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definitions

facility

[fuh-sil-i-tee]

noun, plural fa·cil·i·ties.

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Nearby words

  1. facilitate,
  2. facilitation,
  3. facilitative,
  4. facilitator,
  5. facilities,
  6. facing,
  7. facing tool,
  8. facio-,
  9. faciodigitogenital dysplasia,
  10. facioplasty

Origin of facility

1375–1425; late Middle English facilite (< Middle French) < Latin facilitās. See facile, -ity
Related formsnon·fa·cil·i·ty, noun, plural non·fa·cil·i·ties.o·ver·fa·cil·i·ty, noun
Can be confusedfacile facilitate facility felicitate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for facility's

facility

noun plural -ties

ease of action or performance; freedom from difficulty
ready skill or ease deriving from practice or familiarity
(often plural) the means or equipment facilitating the performance of an action
rare easy-going disposition
military an organization or building offering supporting capability
(usually plural) a euphemistic word for lavatory

Word Origin for facility

C15: from Latin facilitās, from facilis easy; see facile
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for facility's

facility

n.

early 15c., "gentleness," from Middle French facilité, from Latin facilitatem (nominative facilitas) "easiness, ease, fluency, willingness," from facilis "easy" (see facile). Its sense in English moved from "genteelness" to "opportunity" (1510s), to "aptitude, ease" (1530s). Meaning "place for doing something," which makes the word so beloved of journalists and fuzzy writers, first recorded 1872.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper