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Process vs Mechanism - What's the difference?

process | mechanism |

Mechanism is a synonym of process.



As nouns the difference between process and mechanism

is that process is a series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product while mechanism is within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.

As a verb process

is to perform a particular process.

process

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl)

Noun

(es)
  • A series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 27, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Bayern Munich 2-0 Man City , passage=But they came up against an impressive force in Bayern, who extended their run to 10 wins on the trot, having scored 28 goals in the process and conceding none.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.}}
    This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed.
  • (legal) The act of serving a defendant with a summons or a writ.
  • (biology) An outgrowth of tissue or cell.
  • (anatomy) A structure that arises above a surface.
  • (computing) A task or program that is or was executing.
  • (manufacturing) A set of procedures used to produce a product, most commonly in the food and chemical industries.
  • * 1960', Mack Tyner, '''''Process''' Engineering Calculations: Material and Energy Balances'' - Ordinarily a '''process''' plant will use a steam boiler to supply its ' process heat requirements and to drive a steam-turbine generator.
  • * 1987', J. R. Richards, ''Principles of control system design'' in ''Modelling and control of fermentation '''process'''es'' - The words ''plant'' or '''''process''''' infer generally any dynamic system, be it primarily mechanical, electrical, or chemical ' process in nature, and may extend also to include social or economic systems.
  • A path of succession of states through which a system passes.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Robert L. Dorit , title=Rereading Darwin , volume=100, issue=1, page=23 , magazine= citation , passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
  • (lb) Successive physiological responses to keep or restore health.
    • Derived terms
    * due process * due process of law * due-process * process color, process colour * process hot water * process server * process upset
    Related terms
    * proceed * procedure

    Verb

    (es)
  • To perform a particular process.
    • We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions.
  • To treat with a substance
  • To think an information over, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it as valid.

    • Etymology 2

    Verb

    (es)
  • (mostly British) To walk in a procession.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    mechanism

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
  • Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author=(Henry Petroski) , title=Opening Doors , volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3 , magazine= citation , passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism —known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.}}
  • A group of objects or parts that interact together. (as in Political machine )
  • A mental, physical or chemical process.
  • (philosophy) A theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

    • Derived terms

    * defense mechanism * reaction mechanism