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

In a world where artificial intelligence threatens to upend every facet of work and life, some things still remain sacred.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

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

From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026

In a show built around characters who fought to obscure nearly every facet of their true inner lives, Maddy was refreshingly, sometimes brutally herself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

The Panthers were dominating every facet of the game, but fumbles and penalties had kept Permian from leading 35-0 at the half.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

This allowed the actors the unusual opportunity to explore new facets of their characters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Anduril has steadily expanded into nearly all facets of defense contracting, from jets to submarines and counterdrone systems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 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

Her fractured, broken, faceted statue is Cubist in structure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2025

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

"There is a multi faceted transformation that needs to take place" for established automakers such as BMW, said Evangelos Simoudis, a Silicon Valley venture capital investor and expert on vehicle software strategies.

From Reuters ● Sep. 2, 2023

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

They were cool, measuring, as faceted as finely cut jewels; they traveled over her face methodically, cataloguing her eyelashes, her nose, her mouth, her chin.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

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 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

And from afar the vertical faceting of the Shard’s facade reduces the impression of bulk.

From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2013

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

Thence his eyes wandered over the town to far away where the ships' lights shone, and the pier glowed—a little illuminated, facetted pavilion like a gem of yellow light.

From The Invisible Man by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

The sloping surface of the upper cone is facetted with thirty-two facets in the full cut brilliant, while the lower cone receives twenty-four.

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

They are less expensive to cut than fully facetted stones and do not have the snappy brilliancy of the latter.

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

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