facilitator
Americannoun
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a person or thing that facilitates.
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a person responsible for leading or coordinating the work of a group, as one who leads a group discussion.
Each committee will meet with its facilitator.
Etymology
Origin of facilitator
First recorded in 1815–25; facilitate + -or 2
Explanation
If you're a facilitator, you're someone who helps other people get things done. I don't think we can finish this without a facilitator to guide us through the final phase. Many Romance languages have a word descended from the Latin facile, "easy." If you're familiar with any of those, then facilitator will be easy for you to remember. All sorts of people need someone to who makes a process easier. During a negotiation, for example, the parties may call in a facilitator to help iron out their differences. If you've got a friend who can't seem to get their physics homework done, you can be a facilitator just by holding their hand through the toughest problem sets.
Vocabulary lists containing facilitator
A Long Way Gone
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This Week in Words: June 11 - 15, 2018
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Half a World Away
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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.
This led her to open up her farm for non-riding visits to see the donkeys and she trained as an equine assisted learning facilitator.
From BBC • May 16, 2026
Are you the type of person who needs a facilitator?
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026
The live support is better than I expected—a robust conversation with a talented facilitator asking good follow-ups.
From Slate • May 10, 2026
U.S. officials said there were multiple documents with possible deals sent back and forth among Washington, Tehran and facilitator capitals.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
“Well, good morning! I’m Gladys, your new facilitator for morning group.”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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.
