faculty

[ fak-uhl-tee ]

noun

, plural fac·ul·ties.

1. an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action:

   a faculty for making friends easily.

   Synonyms: skill, potential, knack, aptitude, capacity

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.
   1. the entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.
   2. one of the departments of learning, as theology, medicine, or law, in a university.
   3. 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.

faculty

/ ˈfækəltɪ /

noun

1. one of the inherent powers of the mind or body, such as reason, memory, sight, or hearing
2. any ability or power, whether acquired or inherent
3. a conferred power or right
4. 1. a department within a university or college devoted to a particular branch of knowledge
   2. the staff of such a department
   3. all the teaching staff at a university, college, school, etc
5. all members of a learned profession
6. archaic.
   occupation

Other Words From

• inter·facul·ty noun plural interfaculties adjective
• pro·facul·ty adjective
• under·facul·ty noun plural underfaculties

Word History and Origins

Origin of faculty¹

1350–1400; Middle English faculte < Anglo-French, Middle French < Latin facultāt- (stem of facultās ) ability, power, equivalent to facil ( is ) easy ( facile ) + -tāt- -ty ²; facility

Word History and Origins

Origin of faculty¹

C14 (in the sense: department of learning): from Latin facultās capability; related to Latin facilis easy

Synonym Study

See ability.

Example Sentences

The University of Illinois is requiring all faculty, staff and students to participate in screening testing twice a week, using a rapid saliva-based test.

From ProPublica

Under the terms of the deal, University of Arizona will create a non-profit entity called University of Arizona Global Campus that will maintain its own accreditation, faculty, and academic programs.

From Quartz

The reporting prompted the university to end the use of confidentiality clauses when professors are fired and change policy to prevent faculty and administrators from arguing that academic freedom shields them in sexual misconduct cases.

From ProPublica

She completed her training at the University of Washington and joined the faculty in 1982, eventually being promoted to research professor.

From MIT Technology Review

Others, including the University of North Carolina system, are developing worst-case scenario plans, where drops in enrollment could lead to employee furloughs, faculty cuts and suspended athletic programs.

From Ozy

In all these cases, the students and even faculty members plead ignorance.

From The Daily Beast

All students and faculty in the UT community should support the cause of fairness in admissions.

From The Daily Beast

Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps, the faculty for discourse?

From The Daily Beast

I find faculty learning about their specific, specialized research areas, but also about the wider society and natural world.

From The Daily Beast

Benson concluded, “If we are not willing to hire such faculty, they are not willing to fund us.”

From The Daily Beast

We were speaking of the faculty of mimicry, and he told me such a funny little anecdote about Chopin.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no ground for the assertion that a spiritual faculty exists apart from the reason.

From Project Gutenberg

This seems to amount to a claim that religious people possess an extra sense or faculty.

From Project Gutenberg

The faculty of reason, then, has excelled this boasted faculty of spiritual discernment in its own religious sphere.

From Project Gutenberg

But the Christian first invents this faculty, and then tells us that by this faculty religion is to be judged.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• department
• institute
• personnel
• staff
• university