protocol

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, historical, uncountable) The minutes, or official record, of a negotiation or transaction; especially a document drawn up officially which forms the legal basis for subsequent agreements based on it.
2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) An official record of a diplomatic meeting or negotiation; later specifically, a draft document setting out agreements to be signed into force by a subsequent formal treaty.
3. (countable, uncountable) An amendment to an official treaty.
4. (countable, uncountable) The first leaf of a roll of papyrus, or the official mark typically found on such a page.
5. (countable, uncountable) The official formulas which appeared at the beginning or end of certain official documents such as charters, papal bulls etc.
6. (countable, uncountable) The original notes of observations made during an experiment.
7. (countable, uncountable) The precise method for carrying out or reproducing a given experiment.
8. (countable, uncountable) The official rules and guidelines for heads of state and other dignitaries, governing accepted behaviour in relations with other diplomatic representatives or over affairs of state.
9. (broadly, countable, uncountable) An accepted code of conduct; acceptable behaviour in a given situation or group.
10. (countable, uncountable) A set of formal rules describing how to transmit or exchange data, especially across a network.
11. (countable, uncountable) The set of instructions allowing a licensed medical professional to start, modify, or stop a medical or patient care order.
12. (countable, uncountable) The introduction of a liturgical preface, immediately following the Sursum corda dialogue.
13. (countable, uncountable) In some programming languages, a data type declaring a set of members that must be implemented by a class or other data type.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make a protocol of.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To make or write protocols, or first drafts; to issue protocols.

Synonyms

minutes

procedure

communications protocol

process

etiquette

agreement

code

treaty

convention

rules

pact

ceremony

record

obligation

preamble

preliminary

reading

recording

records

registering

registry

report

rite

routine

sequence

understanding

write down

draft treaty

written agreement

preliminary memo

registration

archives

draw up

files

fine

instruction

inventory

log

logging

memo

📝

memorandum

memorial

note

Translations

protocole

protocolo

Protokoll

protocol

proces-verbaal

bekeuring

acta

compte-rendu

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpɹəʊtəˌkɒl/

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French protocolle, protocole (“document, record”), from Late Latin protocollum (“the first sheet of a volume (on which contents and errata were written)”), from Byzantine Greek πρωτόκολλον (prōtókollon, “first sheet glued onto a manuscript”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + κόλλα (kólla, “glue”). Doublet of collage, collagen, and colloid.