facilitate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
facilitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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facilitated,
past participle, past
-
facilitating
present participle
-
to make easier or less difficult; help forward (an action, a process, etc.).
Careful planning facilitates any kind of work.
-
to lead or moderate (a discussion, workshop, etc.), especially as a person trained to do so.
An instructor will facilitate the online discussions, providing students with the questions beforehand.
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to assist the progress of (a person).
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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facilitatesimple
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facilitatessimple
-
have facilitatedperfect
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has facilitatedperfect
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am facilitatingprogressive
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are facilitatingprogressive
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is facilitatingprogressive
-
have been facilitatingperfect progressive
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has been facilitatingperfect progressive
Past
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facilitatedsimple
-
had facilitatedperfect
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was facilitatingprogressive
-
were facilitatingprogressive
-
had been facilitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of facilitate
First recorded in 1605–15; facilit(y) + -ate 1
Explanation
To facilitate means to make something easier. If your best friend is very shy, you could facilitate her efforts to meet new people. Facilitate comes from the Latin facilis, for "easy." It means to make something easier or more likely to happen. You facilitate growth or a process, as opposed to, say, dinner. Often in business meetings someone will be assigned to facilitate a discussion so people don't just sit in awkward silence. Synonyms are ease, simplify, expedite, and assist.
Vocabulary lists containing facilitate
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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Make Do: Fac
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ACT Vocabulary List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The condition makes breathing an enormous struggle and turns mucus, meant to facilitate respiration, into its enemy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
It acknowledged that being separated from a baby following birth could be distressing and said its teams worked to facilitate contact "at the earliest safe opportunity".
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
She helps facilitate the Outdoor Equity program aimed at helping young people of color find belonging in outdoor spaces through hiking, camping, and kayaking, while advocating around environmental racism and access to nature.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
To facilitate an apples-to-apples comparison, I converted the chart’s returns into daily averages.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
Andrew Mlangeni, the last accused, made an unsworn state-ment admitting that he carried messages and instructions for MK and had disguised himself as a priest to facilitate this work.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
People do this because rolling funds into a plan often facilitates another maneuver and the funds are often still accessible.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
"However, our data show that water mainly facilitates mantle melting. The key factor for high gold concentrations is the high - and in part repeated - degree of melting."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
More likely is the concept of a “board of trade” that focuses on nonsensitive goods, facilitates dialogue and potentially paves the way to reducing tariffs on $30 billion to $50 billion of goods.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Navy action facilitates its de-mining and other preparations in the area, it’s doubly a threat to the regime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
Usually, linguistic change is a crucial marker of a modification in the way in which people think—it both facilitates that change and makes it easier for us to recognize it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The investigation found Leonard received $66 million in cash and equity from four companies facilitated by Ballmer and Clippers executives at the behest of Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and then-agent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
An investigation found that the team had facilitated outside payments to superstar Kawhi Leonard, designed to funnel extra money beyond what the league’s salary cap allows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
In a statement, the activists called for an independent investigation to establish "who requested, authorised, facilitated and concealed Dr Besigye's rendition".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The new-found reach of these profiles, facilitated by Instagram's algorithms, opens them up to a wider pool of paying clients.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Half of its farmland is devoted to labor-intensive, high-yield, irrigated rice agriculture, facilitated by abundant rivers flowing from the wet mountains onto sloping lowland plains.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
The NBA penalized the Los Angeles Clippers for violating salary-cap rules by facilitating outside payments to star player Kawhi Leonard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Indiana acknowledged that Planned Parenthood was facilitating legal abortions.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
Trying facilitating a frank conversation about what needs to be in order.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The NPP politician was found guilty of "assigning mineral rights without approval" and "facilitating an unlicensed mining operation" through his company, Akonta Mining.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Writing empowered European societies by facilitating political administration and economic exchanges, motivating and guiding exploration and conquest, and making available a range of information and human experience extending into remote places and times.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
