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pro·gram (prōgrăm, -grəm)
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n.
1.
a. A listing of the order of events and other pertinent information for a public presentation.
b. The presentation itself: a program of piano pieces.
2. A scheduled radio or television show.
3. An ordered list of events to take place or procedures to be followed; a schedule: a program of physical therapy for a convalescent.
4. A system of services, opportunities, or projects, usually designed to meet a social need: "Working parents rely on the center's after-school latchkey program" (New York Times).
5.
a. A course of academic study; a curriculum.
b. A plan or system of academic and related or ancillary activities: a work-study program.
c. A plan or system of nonacademic extracurricular activities: the football program.
6. A set of coded instructions that enables a machine, especially a computer, to perform a desired sequence of operations.
7. An instruction sequence in programmed instruction.
8.
a. All or part of the genetic code of a cell or organism.
b. A characteristic sequence of developmental or behavioral events in a cell or organism, often considered to result from the expression of genes.
c. A stimulus or training sequence that causes an organism to exhibit a behavior, as by conditioning.
tr.v. pro·grammed, pro·gram·ming, pro·grams or pro·gramed or pro·gram·ing
1. To include or schedule in a program: program a new musical composition.
2. To design a program for; schedule the activities of.
3. To provide (a machine) with a set of coded working instructions.
4. To stimulate or train to perform automatically in a specified way: consumers who have been programmed to buy brand names.
5. To prepare an instructional sequence for (material to be taught) in programmed instruction.
6.
a. To provide (a cell or organism, for example) with a genetic program: cells that are programmed to produce insulin.
b. To cause (an effect or action) by means of a genetic program; determine genetically: "The basic housekeeping duties that a human and a yeast cell must perform are the same and are programmed by recognizably similar genes inherited from a common, single-celled ancestor" (Nicholas Wade).
Idiom:
get with the program
To follow or conform to a set of guidelines or expectations.

[Late Latin programma, public notice, from Greek programma, programmat-, from prographein, to write publicly : pro-, forth; see PRO-2 + graphein, to write; see gerbh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

pro·gramma·bili·ty n.
programma·ble adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.