What actually mean "procedural"?

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well

I am trying to understand the concept of “procedural”.
I often see this word.

For example,
Procedural material,
Procedural foliage,
Procedural object/mesh etc.

What does mean this word in regards to Computer Graphics, and for which purpose do people use this?

In terms of purpose, it can be used to construct large world terrain, special effects, concept design, buildings, roads, and other random magic things.

Whether to use it depends on your favorite workflow or your demand.
These procedural generated things are designed to help developers or artists save time, improve efficiency, and make iterative prototypes,but it may bring repetition and boredom.

Some hard-to-learn tools like Houdini need some computer graphics knowledge and spend your moths learning it.And some easy-to-learn tools are just need your creativity.

GDC: Building a Living World from Ancient Ruins in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

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