proceedings
noun
Form of proceeding , plural of proceeding.
Simple meaning
The course of procedure in the prosecution of an action at law.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prohseedingzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹoʊˈsidɪŋz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
lawplural only
The course of procedure in the prosecution of an action at law.
The published record of the actions of a society, or of things done at its meetings.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The course of procedure in the prosecution of an action at law.
Used this way, proceedings is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use proceedings
- “The court proceedings were open to the public today.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.