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
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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.
The live support is better than I expected—a robust conversation with a talented facilitator asking good follow-ups.
From Slate • May 10, 2026
Silverberg, the facilitator of Becky’s Book Club, is also a novelist and comedian and has worked for Literary Affairs for five years.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
A "facilitator" who had allegedly been paid to help them illegally cross to Zimbabwe was also detained.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
With so many collaborations in the works, Uber looks increasingly set to hit its goal of becoming the largest facilitator of AV trips by 2029, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
“I’m the facilitator, which means I do about everything around here.”
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
