standard operating procedure
12
4.3
- noun
- Formal
:
procedimiento operativo estándar
- The technician explained that using a checklist is part of the standard operating procedure for equipment maintenance.
- become standard operating procedure
- establish standard operating procedures
I mean that's pretty standard operating procedure for him.
- I mean that's pretty standard operating procedure for him.
- But a standard operating procedure was once we'd win the contract, we'd renegotiate everything, right?
- PS SOP is a standard operating procedure.
Examples
-
We are required to follow standard operating procedure.
-
The xeno-zoo had never had an animal escape, but we have a standard operating procedure to deal with such an eventuality.
Fiction book (1999) -
Normally that would be the standard operating procedure.
-
There are no standard operating procedures for what we do.
-
Then you go right into standard operating procedure.
-
That is standard operating procedure.
-
Imagine the day when teaching toward the standards is standard operating procedure.
Academic text (2000) -
Mark my words... before long this will be standard operating procedure.
Blog text (23) -
And right now we have just released a standard operating procedure for the police where all police in Mumbai must follow it.
-
Standard operating procedures would be developed from the information gathered throughout the full-scale operation.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
37
3.1
A usual way of doing something that people follow in a situation
15
3.4
A list of steps to use a machine or to deal with a specific situation safely
7
4.7
A set of steps people regularly follow at work
A regular set of steps people in an organization must follow
How Routine
- Formal
12
4.3
- Formal
309
5.6
688
3.7
344
3.1
759
1.4
9
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
standard + operating + procedure
The meaning is directly and transparently built from the constituents: 'procedure' (ordered steps) modified by 'operating' (relating to operation) and qualified by 'standard' (accepted/established). This noun-phrase composition follows ordinary English combinatory patterns and is conceptually similar across many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the component words should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Standard operating procedure comes from workplaces like factories and hospitals where people followed a written set of steps to operate machines in a standard way as a clear procedure to get the same, safe result. That's why standard operating procedure means 'an agreed set of steps everyone follows'.