iterate

English

Etymology

From Latin iterō (“do it for a second time, repeat”), from iterum (“again”), akin to is (“he, that”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪtəɹeɪt/, /ˈaɪtəɹeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɪtəɹeɪt/, [ˈɪɾəɹeɪt]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɪtəɹæɪt/, [ˈɪɾəɹæɪt]

Verb

iterate (third-person singular simple present iterates, present participle iterating, simple past and past participle iterated)

1. (computing) To perform or repeat an action on each item in a set.

   The max() function iterates through the data to find the highest value.

2. (computing, mathematics) To perform or repeat an action on the results of each such prior action.

   In mathematics, an iterated function is a function which is composed with itself, possibly ad infinitum, in a process called iteration.

3. (transitive, archaic) To utter or do a second time or many times; to repeat.

   to iterate advice

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Nor Eve to iterate / Her former trespass feared.

   • 1842, William Leman Rede, The Royal Rake: and the Adventures of Alfred Chesterton, page 25:

     "Where's your money?" Jack exclaimed, hoarsely, in a well-feigned voice.
     "Ah! where's the rowdy?" iterated Clayton, in a tone it was impossible to conceal.

4. (design, transitive, intransitive) To repeat an activity, making incremental changes each time.
   • December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine‎^[1]:

     For NASA and most private aerospace companies, a single crash is a setback that can take years to recover from. SpaceX works more like a Silicon Valley startup, where the goal is to fail quickly and iterate.

Synonyms

• (to repeat): reiterate; see also Thesaurus:reiterate

Translations

To utter or do a second time

• Bulgarian: повтарям (bg) (povtarjam)
• French: itérer (fr)
• Spanish: iterar (es)

Noun

iterate (plural iterates)

1. (mathematics) An n-fold self-composition of a function.
   • 2011, M. A. Kaashoek, T. T. West, Locally Compact Semi-Algebras, page 8:

     An important example of such a semigroup in infinite dimensional Hilbert space is the weak operator closed monothetic semigroup generated by a linear operator with equibounded iterates.

2. (mathematics) The image of a certain value under such a function.

   f²(x₀) is the second iterate of x₀ under f.

Derived terms

• reiterate
• iterative
• iterator

Adjective

iterate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Said or done again; repeated.
   • 1558, Thomas Watson, Sermons on the Ssacraments:

     The baptisme is good and may not be iterate and geuen agayne.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:repeated

Further reading

• “iterate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “iterate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “iterate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• ariette

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

iterate

1. inflection of iterare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

iterate f pl

1. feminine plural of iterato

Anagrams

• ariette, iettare, ietterà

Latin

Verb

iterāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of iterō

Spanish

Verb

iterate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of iterar combined with te