went through a series of steps or actions to change or handle something, or moved through an official system.
From Old French 'proceder' meaning 'to go forward,' derived from Latin 'procedere' combining 'pro-' (forward) and 'cedere' (to go). The meaning evolved from physical movement to describe any systematic series of actions.
The word 'process' originally described moving forward in a physical procession, which is why we still talk about a 'chain of command' moving up or down—it's the same metaphor of people walking in order!
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