Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To go forward or onward, especially after an interruption; continue.
  • intransitive verb To begin to carry on an action or a process.
  • intransitive verb To move on in an orderly manner.
  • intransitive verb To come from a source; originate or issue: synonym: stem.
  • intransitive verb Law To institute and pursue legal action.
  • noun plural The amount of money derived from a commercial or fundraising venture; the yield.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To move, pass, or go forward or onward; continue or renew motion or progress; advance; go on, literally or figuratively: as, to proceed on one's journey; the vessel touched at Queenstown, and then proceeded on her voyage
  • To issue or come, as from an origin, source, or fountain; go forth: with from.
  • To carry on some series of actions; set one's self at work and go on in a certain way and for some particular purpose; act according to some method.
  • To be transacted or carried on; be done; pass; go on.
  • To begin and carry on a legal action; take any step in the course of procedure: as, to proceed against an offender.
  • To come into effect or action.
  • To take an academic degree: now used only in the universities of Great Britain and Ireland. “To proceed master” is an abbreviated form of “to proceed to the degree of master.”
  • Synonyms To arise, emanate, flow, accrue, result, be derived.
  • noun The amount proceeding or accruing from some possession or transaction; especially, the sum derived from the sale of goods: now used only in the plural: as, the consignee was directed to sell the goods for-warded and invest the proceeds in coffee.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to continue or renew motion begun.
  • intransitive verb To pass from one point, topic, or stage, to another.
  • intransitive verb To issue or come forth as from a source or origin; to come from.
  • intransitive verb To go on in an orderly or regulated manner; to begin and carry on a series of acts or measures; to act by method; to prosecute a design.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To be transacted; to take place; to occur.
  • intransitive verb To have application or effect; to operate.
  • intransitive verb (Law) To begin and carry on a legal process.
  • noun obsolete See proceeds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to continue or renew motion begun.
  • verb To pass from one point, topic, or stage, to another.
  • verb To issue or come forth as from a source or origin; to come from.
  • verb To go on in an orderly or regulated manner; to begin and carry on a series of acts or measures; to act by method; to prosecute a design.
  • verb To be transacted; to take place; to occur.
  • verb To have application or effect; to operate.
  • verb To begin and carry on a legal process.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb follow a certain course
  • verb continue a certain state, condition, or activity
  • verb continue talking
  • verb follow a procedure or take a course
  • verb move ahead; travel onward in time or space

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English proceden, from Old French proceder, from Latin prōcēdere : prō-, forward; see pro– + cēdere, to go; see ked- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French proceder, from Latin procedere ("to go forth, go forward, advance, come forth, issue, go on, result, proceed"), from pro ("forth") + cedere ("to go"); see cede.

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Examples

  • No doubt the right way to proceed is to think of circumstances in which the two models give widely different predictions and to look around for real-life situations that offer the opportunity to discriminate between them.

    Robert Solow on Model-Building, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • No doubt the right way to proceed is to think of circumstances in which the two models give widely different predictions and to look around for real-life situations that offer the opportunity to discriminate between them.

    Free Market or Artificial Market?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • One way to proceed is to engage in an intergenerational dialogue with other teachers, a space for problem posing and problem solving, historical and theoretical considerations, storytelling and critical reflection.

    May « 2008 « Bill Ayers 2008

  • People like you have dug such a deep hole for us, that the only way for Obama to proceed is to put the Orion on a Delta IV Heavy, or cancel it altogether.

    Astronaut Office Weighs In (Officially) On Ares/Orion/EELVs - NASA Watch 2008

  • One way to proceed is to engage in an intergenerational dialogue with other teachers, a space for problem posing and problem solving, historical and theoretical considerations, storytelling and critical reflection.

    Charles Dickens/Walt Whitman 2008

  • "Given this, the only way for us to proceed is to make a public proposal directly to you and your board," the letter stated.

    Boing Boing: February 8, 2004 - February 14, 2004 Archives 2004

  • This being the case perhaps the best way to proceed is to try to guess equations, and disregard physical models or descriptions.

    Richard P. Feynman - Nobel Lecture 1972

  • In order to do that we believe the right way to proceed is to try and secure such organization of producers, both in the secondary industries and in the primary industries as will be able to talk to those in other parts of the Empire and agree to a line of development that will not unduly conflict with what is taking place in the other Dominions; to be able to interchange as many products as we can and be sure the ultimate conflict that may take place when we become fully productive, be as long deferred as it possibly can.

    Australia and the Empire 1938

  • Whereas basic forces of nature can generate complex designs whose causal genesis can be traced in steps from simpler beginnings to evolving complexity, intelligently designed objects proceed from a blueprint existing first in a mind.

    2010 June - Telic Thoughts 2010

  • Therefore you should always imagine, when you read the words of the chorus, that the words are spoken by persons of your own stature; while the words spoken by the protagonists proceed from the mouths of giants ... posted by Jonathan at

    Archive 2009-03-01 Jonathan Aquino 2009

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