faculty

[ fak-uhl-tee ]

/ ˈfæk əl ti /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR faculty ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural fac·ul·ties.

an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action: a faculty for making friends easily.

one of the powers of the mind, as memory, reason, or speech: Though very sick, he is in full possession of all his faculties.

an inherent capability of the body: the faculties of sight and hearing.

exceptional ability or aptitude: a president with a faculty for management.

Education.

the entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.
one of the departments of learning, as theology, medicine, or law, in a university.
the teaching body, sometimes with the students, in any of these departments.

the members of a learned profession: the medical faculty.

a power or privilege conferred by the state, a superior, etc.: The police were given the faculty to search the building.

Ecclesiastical. a dispensation, license, or authorization.

Nearby words

facultative, facultative anaerobe, facultative apomict, facultative hyperopia, facultative parasite, faculty, faculty of advocates, fad, fadden, faddish, faddist

Origin of faculty

1350–1400; Middle English faculte < Anglo-French, Middle French < Latin facultāt- (stem of facultās) ability, power, equivalent to facil(is) easy (see facile) + -tāt- -ty²; cf. facility

SYNONYMS FOR faculty

1 capacity, aptitude, knack, potential, skill.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR faculty ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

in·ter·fac·ul·ty, noun, plural in·ter·fac·ul·ties, adjectivepro·fac·ul·ty, adjectiveun·der·fac·ul·ty, noun, plural un·der·fac·ul·ties.

Synonym study

1. See ability.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for faculty

All students and faculty in the UT community should support the cause of fairness in admissions.
The University of Texas’s Machiavellian War on Its Regent|David Davis|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps, the faculty for discourse?
The Bioethicist Turned Butcher|Elizabeth Picciuto|September 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Second, the Charles Koch Foundation would at least partially control which faculty members Florida State University hired.
Koch Foundation to College: We’ll Give You Millions—if You Teach Our Libertarian Ideology|Center for Public Integrity|September 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The chairperson at Doe's disciplinary was faculty member Dennis Conway.
Is UMass-Amherst Biased Against Male Students in Title IX Assault Cases?|Emily Shire|August 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Calvin faculty have shaped Christian discourse in important ways since its founding in 1876.
The Christian Reformed Church Still Won’t Stand Up For Science|Karl W. Giberson|June 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Love is capable of seeing clearer and deeper than any other faculty.
The Heart of Nature|Francis Younghusband
One faculty, standing unmoved in the storm of emotions which had overwhelmed him, perceived this.
The House of Mystery|William Henry Irwin
He expatiated with great profoundness and fertility of ideas, on the uses to which a faculty like this might be employed.
Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist|Charles Brockden Brown
This Blitheman perceiving that he had a natural geny to the faculty, spared neither time nor labor to advance it to the utmost.
Dealings With The Dead|A Sexton of the Old School
To neglect a faculty is by no means synonymous with developing it.
The Curse of Education|Harold E. Gorst

British Dictionary definitions for faculty

faculty

/ (ˈfækəltɪ) /

noun plural -ties

one of the inherent powers of the mind or body, such as reason, memory, sight, or hearing

any ability or power, whether acquired or inherent

a conferred power or right

a department within a university or college devoted to a particular branch of knowledge
the staff of such a department
mainly US and Canadian all the teaching staff at a university, college, school, etc

all members of a learned profession

archaic occupation

Word Origin for faculty

C14 (in the sense: department of learning): from Latin facultās capability; related to Latin facilis easy

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