• IPA: /ˈɪtəɹeɪt/, /ˈaɪtəɹeɪt/

iterate (iterates, present participle iterating; 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 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Nor Eve to iterate / Her former trespass feared.

4. (design, ambitransitive) To repeat an activity, making incremental changes each time

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

iterate (plural iterates)

1. (mathematics) a function that iterates

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

iterate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Said or done again; repeated.

• See Thesaurus:repeated