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 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

This show collects art from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s in the first display to examine that overlooked facet of her creative mind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 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

Von Rumpel’s particular gift is for diamonds: he can facet and polish stones as well as any Aryan jeweler in Europe, and he often spots fakes at a glance.

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

A glance at Scheffler's record shows metronomic consistency across all facets of his game.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 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

“I was almost forced to swim in one lane,” she said, adding that she has more facets to her personality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

A bland, phlegmadc smile hung on his brown face with its heavy- bearded cheeks, and he was buffing the facets of his bald head gendy with the palms of both hands.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Its stainless steel facade unfurls toward the river in faceted, reflective forms that contrast with the building’s campus-facing facade, a series of various-sized cubes wrapped in earth-toned brick, matching the rest of campus.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 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

For instance, it’s easy to read visual similarities and divergences in the Cubist faceting of paired landscapes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2016

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

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

When completely facetted the brilliant is finished and requires only to be cleaned, when it is ready for sale.

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

If almost any clear, colorless facetted stone is placed in the sunlight and a card held before it to receive the reflections, it will be seen that rainbow-like reflections appear on the card.

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

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 Wade, Frank Bertram

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 Wade, Frank Bertram

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 Wade, Frank Bertram