The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ITERATES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
T
E
R
A
T
E
S
More clues leading to the result ITERATES
- Repeatedly runs bad treaties
- It’s time TV rejected repeats
- Repeats excerpt from writer, a testimony
- Before a setter compiled, one goes from 1 to 2 to 3 …
- Intern, Nantes, with entirely no end to prescription repeats
- States repeatedly breaking treaties
- Repeats knotting ties without value
- Repeats internally upset a retiree? Just the opposite!
- Monarch consumed food; seconds after it repeats
- Repeats verbatim endless setback
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "repeats" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case repeats = iterates.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ITERATES mean?
ITERATES noun- A function that iterates