facility

American  

[fuh-sil-i-tee] / fəˈsɪl ɪ ti /

noun

• facilities
  plural

1. Often facilities

   1. something designed, built, installed, etc., to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service.

      transportation facilities;

      educational facilities;

      a new research facility.

   2. something that permits the easier performance of an action, course of conduct, etc..

      to provide someone with every facility for accomplishing a task;

      to lack facilities for handling bulk mail.

2. readiness or ease due to skill, aptitude, or practice; dexterity.

   to compose with great facility.

3. ready compliance.

   Her facility in organizing and directing made her an excellent supervisor.

4. an easy-flowing manner.

   facility of style.

5. the quality of being easily or conveniently done or performed.

6. Informal. Often facilities a restroom, especially one for use by the public, as in a theater or restaurant.

7. freedom from difficulty, controversy, misunderstanding, etc..

   facility of understanding.

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facility British  

/ fəˈsɪlɪtɪ /

noun

1. ease of action or performance; freedom from difficulty

2. ready skill or ease deriving from practice or familiarity

3. (often plural) the means or equipment facilitating the performance of an action

4. rare easy-going disposition

5. military an organization or building offering supporting capability

6. (usually plural) a euphemistic word for lavatory

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfacility
  noun
• overfacility
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• facilities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of facility

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English facilite, from Middle French or directly from Latin facilitās; see facile, -ity

Explanation

Facility is a noun with several different meanings. Often, as in "storage facility," it's a place designed for a specific use, but it can also mean an effortlessness or ease with something. The new stadium is a great facility for showing off Olympic winter sports. At this level, all of the ice skaters show a facility that borders on magical. Likewise, the prison is a great facility for storing prisoners. Those prisoners showed a real facility for crime. Related to the French facile, which means "easy," a person who shows a facility for something makes it seem easy. This is cool, especially if that thing is difficult — or, as the French might say, difficile.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

facility facilities

He was treated there and has since been returned to the detention facility.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

The fire started at a battery energy storage system near a solar panel field on the northeast side at the facility, which houses Weymouth Water Treatment Plant, according to the water district.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has listed the sprawling Los Angeles ranch where he housed his horses for nearly $30 million—decades after abandoning controversial plans to transform the property with an enormous five-story riding facility.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

Over the past century the facility has processed more than 50,000 metric tons of gold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

There were just ninety or a hundred kids in all of Juvenile Hall, most of them boys, even though the facility had been built for three hundred and sixty.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

They represent park rangers, scientists and other professionals who keep visitors safe, maintain trails and facilities, monitor wildlife and help communities prepare for disasters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

With far less leisure time and diminished income, recreational facilities are turned over to food production, notably small-scale greenhouses and vertical farming for producing varied fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

The complex will have 35,000 square feet of commercial space that a draft environmental impact report described as including stores, restaurants, coffee shops, fitness studios, and childcare facilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The facilities produce raw materials used to make pharmaceuticals, clothing, cosmetics, detergents, construction materials and military explosives in the UK and Europe.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Board of Education, civil rights activists used direct-action tactics in an effort to force reluctant Southern states to desegregate public facilities.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• accommodation
• amenity
• equipment
• material
• resource
• tool