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

The FTC today enforces some 80 statutes that cover “almost every facet of the Nation’s economy, and the tasks it undertakes are ‘the very essence of “execution” of the law,’” the Chief writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 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

He’s old enough to be fascinated by the idea of liminality because it represents the destruction of a facet of life that was once objectively true: community.

From Salon ● May 30, 2026

“That’s only a facet of it. I don’t normally read the fortunes of men, but...”

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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

That is, putting all facets of an operation under the command and control of one central administrator.

From Barron's ● May 2, 2026

The public hearings on Monday will focus on defining antisemitism, how it manifests in society as well as the lived experiences of Jewish Australians in all facets of the community.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

Real radicalism is accepting the discomfort; it’s acknowledging that two or more things can coexist, and addressing all of those facets at once, even if the result isn’t perfect.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 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

Alongside his own survey of Mont Blanc published in a monumental chromolithograph is his modest diagram of its underlying crystalline structure, as if it were a faceted gem.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026

The workers check and replace the large plastic bulbs on the long strings of lights and then use pulleys and hoists to hang and sometimes muscle those long strands of faceted lights onto the branches.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025

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

I examined the keyhole in the center of the door, then looked at the words printed directly above it, etched into the door’s faceted surface.

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 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

It appears Dupont was making money before the war by faceting spinels into false diamonds for dowagers and baronesses.

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

A facetted carbuncle accompanied by ten little twinkling emeralds; &c. &c.

From A Pair of Blue Eyes by Hardy, Thomas

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 McClintock, Francis Leopold

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 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