facilitate
Americanverb (used with object)
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facilitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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facilitated,
past participle, past
-
facilitating
present participle
-
to make easier or less difficult; help forward (an action, a process, etc.).
Careful planning facilitates any kind of work.
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to lead or moderate (a discussion, workshop, etc.), especially as a person trained to do so.
An instructor will facilitate the online discussions, providing students with the questions beforehand.
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to assist the progress of (a person).
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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facilitatesimple
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facilitatessimple
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have facilitatedperfect
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has facilitatedperfect
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am facilitatingprogressive
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are facilitatingprogressive
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is facilitatingprogressive
-
have been facilitatingperfect progressive
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has been facilitatingperfect progressive
Past
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facilitatedsimple
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had facilitatedperfect
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was facilitatingprogressive
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were facilitatingprogressive
-
had been facilitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of facilitate
First recorded in 1605–15; facilit(y) + -ate 1
Explanation
To facilitate means to make something easier. If your best friend is very shy, you could facilitate her efforts to meet new people. Facilitate comes from the Latin facilis, for "easy." It means to make something easier or more likely to happen. You facilitate growth or a process, as opposed to, say, dinner. Often in business meetings someone will be assigned to facilitate a discussion so people don't just sit in awkward silence. Synonyms are ease, simplify, expedite, and assist.
Vocabulary lists containing facilitate
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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Make Do: Fac
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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.
See Examples For:
Monaco introduced an offence of presumed money laundering to facilitate the prosecution of cases involving suspicious funds.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Unlike stock exchanges, which facilitate trading but don’t actually hold securities on behalf of investors, many crypto exchanges store cryptocurrencies for their customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Actually identifying the vast majority of doctors who facilitate abortions would be challenging, to say the least.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
The judge said Marimi's allegations "at best suggest that US government officials exerted pressure on Libyan officials to facilitate a rendition, not that US government officials directed or controlled the challenged conduct."
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
There was even a train system to facilitate transporting the miners from the Nut to the very center of the main town in District 2.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
"This solution enables developers and banks to create innovative products and services for their customers and facilitates competition between wallets, while ensuring users' sensitive data remains protected by the highest security standards".
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
"Our findings suggest that conjoint exercise facilitates, in a small but significant way, the ability to resolve conflict peacefully," Yorgason said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Getting rid of the physical disc also facilitates distribution by reducing supply-chain hiccups and the possibility of a premature leak.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
On any given week, Longwell’s political strategy and communications firm Longwell Partners facilitates multiple focus-group discussions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Usually, linguistic change is a crucial marker of a modification in the way in which people think—it both facilitates that change and makes it easier for us to recognize it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Agents wanted Kao to help them find more records that would back up his account and asked him to point them toward lobbyists in D.C. who he said facilitated the pay-for-play scheme.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026
In an exclusive interview with the BBC from prison in Kyiv, facilitated by his lawyer, Vitalii Zhykovych has given his own account of the attempted assassination for the first time.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Still, “the colleagues who facilitated his ouster accuse him of a degree of deception that is untenable for any executive and dangerous for a leader of such a transformative technology.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Kreiz was previously chairman and chief executive of Mattel, where he facilitated the toy company’s big Hollywood push with “Barbie,” “Masters of the Universe” and the upcoming Hot Wheels movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Matters are also facilitated when the prince, having no other dominions to govern, is constrained to come to live there in person.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis, meanwhile, did the heavy lifting for Sacramento, with the shooting guard scoring 28 points and the center facilitating the offense with 14 points, eight assists and 18 rebounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
"Are they happening together or not? At which molecular site? And how is the water network facilitating the proton hop?"
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
By facilitating an open conversation that nails down the details of your offer, you can provide for your great-nephew and avoid friction with your wife.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The 14 defendants – mainly Afghan nationals – are accused of manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised criminal group.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
It is at this point—and at only this point—that we can say that the work of Galileo and his pupils on water flow had finally paid off by facilitating a markedly improved practical technology.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
