facet

American  

[fas-it] / ˈfæs ɪt /

noun

• facets
  plural

1. a small, polished, flat surface, usually in the shape of a polygon, such as one of the surfaces of a cut gem.

2. a smooth, flat surface cut on a fragment of rock by the action of water, windblown sand, etc.

3. aspect; phase.

   They carefully examined every facet of the argument.

4. Architecture. any of the faces of a column cut in a polygonal form.

5. Zoology. one of the corneal lenses of a compound arthropod eye.

6. Anatomy. a small, smooth, flat area on a hard surface, especially on a bone.

7. Dentistry. a small, highly burnished area, usually on the enamel surface of a tooth, produced by abrasion between opposing teeth in chewing.

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verb (used with object)

faceted, faceting, facetted, facetting

1. to cut facets on.

facet British  

/ ˈfæsɪt /

noun

1. any of the surfaces of a cut gemstone

2. an aspect or phase, as of a subject or personality

3. architect the raised surface between the flutes of a column

4. any of the lenses that make up the compound eye of an insect or other arthropod

5. anatomy any small smooth area on a hard surface, as on a bone

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verb

1. (tr) to cut facets in (a gemstone)

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• facets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of facet

First recorded in 1615–25, from the French facette “little face”; see face ( def. ), -ette ( )

Explanation

A facet is one side or aspect of something. If you’re thinking about quitting your day job to become a circus performer, you should first consider every facet of what your new life would be like. Facet, which is related to the word face, can also refer to one of the flat “faces” of a diamond or other gem. This was the word’s original definition, and it was evidently seen as an apt metaphor for one side of a complex idea. When a problem has many parts to consider (or when it’s just a huge mess), you can describe it as multifaceted.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

facet facets faceted faceting facetted facetting

“They really bring a cinematic eye to that facet of it.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

In France, Yuka is one facet of a wider food-tracking phenomenon.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

As law, policy and regulation have penetrated deeper into every facet of life, the First Amendment right “to petition the government for the redress of grievances” has become of utmost importance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Gans wrote about this facet of the history recently in Slate.

From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026

Yet in later life, his attitude toward these skills reflected a curious facet of his personality: having mastered them, he abandoned them almost entirely to move on to new challenges.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

In some cases the same model has exhibited several of these facets:

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

I’ve thought about it when I examine the facets of my career.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

This Juneteenth, we should try to confront and reclaim this holiday’s contradictory history, in all its facets.

From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026

Then there are all the facets of his campaign that remind us he’s new here, that he’s maybe just throwing spaghetti at the wall.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026

Giant windows, cut into facets that held the light like prisms, climbed up the tallest towers.

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo

I’m pleased to report that the car’s most beguiling bit of cabin jewelry—the faceted gear selector, like a steampunk gaming cube embedded in the center console—made it through to the latest redesign.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2025

The lights are faceted, Wardlaw said, so they give off better light and they rarely break.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024

In a moment of great danger, “the bergs are many, lavender and faceted, when the air is full of floating ice crystals.”

From Scientific American ● Aug. 20, 2023

In the Broadway Windows, one “Eternalism” skims across a faceted landscape that seems constructed from crumpled tinfoil.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

There was a keyhole in the very center of the door, and directly above it, three words were etched into the door’s glittering, faceted surface: CHARITY.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

The cubist faceting of both figures and ground gives each panel a density of surface and a propulsive, lilting energy, like swing jazz but with spiked edges.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 23, 2020

Here she has done a good job of sculpting and faceting the building’s shape, such that from some angles it might be thought to soar.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2015

The most remarkable here in terms of size and faceting include the exquisitely simple “Shah Jahan Diamond” and the startlingly kaleidoscopic brilliant-cut stone known as the Idol’s Eye.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2015

The figures are rendered in a self-consciously arty style — call it "mass-market modern" — that is a kind of Cubist faceting squashed flat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2014

Sometimes he’d recut diamonds or consult on high-level faceting projects.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Kerans watches the "countless reflections of the sun move across the surface in huge sheets of fire, like the blazing facetted eyes of gigantic insects".

From The Guardian ● Jul. 13, 2012

Recently it has become common to polish the tops of colored stones with a smooth unfacetted, slightly convex surface, the back being facetted in either the brilliant or the step arrangement.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade

The rubbing down process does not leave a facetted surface, but only a coarse roughly rounded or flattened surface.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade

The polishing of stones, whether cabochon or facetted, is accomplished by the use of very finely powdered abrasives such as corundum powder, tripoli, pumice, putty powder, etc.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade

Large quantities of hornblende are also met with at Levesque Harbor, Bellot Strait, composed of facetted crystals agglutinated together into large masses, forming a crystalline hornblendic gneiss.

From In the Arctic Seas A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions by Francis Leopold McClintock

In general, however, the slitting or cleaving, the rubbing down to shape, the smoothing out of all scratches and the facetting and polishing are done somewhat similarly by all lapidaries.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade