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faculty

 - 5 dictionary results

fac⋅ul⋅ty

  [fak-uhl-tee]
Use faculty in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ties.
1. an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action: a faculty for making friends easily.
2. one of the powers of the mind, as memory, reason, or speech: Though very sick, he is in full possession of all his faculties.
3. an inherent capability of the body: the faculties of sight and hearing.
4. exceptional ability or aptitude: a president with a faculty for management.
5. Education.
a. the entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.
b. one of the departments of learning, as theology, medicine, or law, in a university.
c. the teaching body, sometimes with the students, in any of these departments.
6. the members of a learned profession: the medical faculty.
7. a power or privilege conferred by the state, a superior, etc.: The police were given the faculty to search the building.
8. Ecclesiastical. a dispensation, license, or authorization.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME faculte < AF, MF < L facultāt- (s. of facultās) ability, power, equiv. to facil(is) easy (see facile ) + -tāt- -ty 2 ; cf. facility

Synonyms:
1. capacity, aptitude, knack, potential, skill. See ability.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To faculty
fac·ul·ty   (fāk'əl-tē)   
n.   pl. fac·ul·ties

  1. An inherent power or ability.

  2. Any of the powers or capacities possessed by the human mind. See Synonyms at ability.

  3. The ability to perform or act.

    1. Any of the divisions or comprehensive branches of learning at a college or university: the faculty of law.

    2. The teachers and instructors within such a division.

    3. A body of teachers.

  5. All of the members of a learned profession: the medical faculty.

  6. Authorization granted by authority; conferred power.

  7. Archaic An occupation; a trade.


[Middle English faculte, from Old French, from Latin facultās, power, ability, from facilis, easy; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

faculty 
1382, "ability, means, resources," from O.Fr. faculté, from L. facultatem (nom. facultas) "power, ability, wealth," from *facli-tat-s, from facilis (see facile). Academic sense was probably the earliest in Eng. (attested in Anglo-L. from 1184), on notion of "ability in knowledge." Originally each department was a faculty; the use in ref. to the whole teaching staff of a college dates from 1767.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: fac·ul·ty
Pronunciation: 'fak-&l-tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ties
1 a : an inherentcapability, power, or function faculty of hearing> faculty> b : one of the powers of the mind formerly held by psychologists to form a basisfor the explanation of all mental phenomena
2 a : the members of a profession b : the teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administrationhaving academic rank in an educational institution
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

faculty fac·ul·ty (fāk'əl-tē)
n.
A natural or specialized power of a living organism.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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