functional
capable of operating or functioning: When will the ventilating system be functional again?
having or serving a utilitarian purpose; capable of serving the purpose for which it was designed: functional architecture; a chair that is functional as well as decorative.
Also func·tion·al·is·tic. (of a building or furnishing) constructed or made according to the principles of functionalism or primarily as a direct fulfillment of a material need.
Medicine/Medical. without a known organic cause or structural change: a functional disorder.: Compare organic (def. 5).
pertaining to an algebraic operation: a functional symbol.
Linguistics. (of linguistic analysis, language teaching, etc.) concerned with the communicative role of language rather than, in addition to, or as the framework for its formal structure.
Origin of functional
1Other words from functional
- func·tion·al·i·ty, noun
- func·tion·al·ly, adverb
- hy·per·func·tion·al, adjective
- hy·per·func·tion·al·ly, adverb
- mul·ti·func·tion·al, adjective
- non·func·tion·al, adjective
- non·func·tion·al·ly, adverb
- pre·func·tion·al, adjective
- sem·i·func·tion·al, adjective
- sem·i·func·tion·al·ly, adverb
- sub·func·tion·al, adjective
- sub·func·tion·al·ly, adverb
- su·per·func·tion·al, adjective
- un·func·tion·al, adjective
- un·func·tion·al·ly, adverb
Words Nearby functional
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use functional in a sentence
It enabled customers to tap into these base services like encryption, workflow and metadata and build their own customizations or even fully functional applications by taking advantage of the tools that Box has already built.
Box benefits from digital transformation as it raises its growth forecast | Ron Miller | August 27, 2020 | TechCrunchInstead, the researchers think elite controllers’ immune systems eliminated cells producing functional virus, leaving behind only broken copies of the virus and intact versions locked in heterochromatin.
In a first, a person’s immune system fought HIV — and won | Tina Hesman Saey | August 26, 2020 | Science NewsThe collaboration with Dixon produced modular, multi-functional Delaktig sofa that was a shout-out to the burgeoning community of IKEA hackers who find ever more ingenious ways of reconfiguring standard IKEA products into completely novel pieces.
Ikea promises ‘democratic’ design. Has its Virgil Abloh collaboration lived up? | claychandler | August 25, 2020 | FortuneFabrika Hostel used to be a Soviet era sewing factory, which the group converted into a design-centric multi-functional space with one of the biggest hostels in the region.
Maps that draw out functional connections between those cells.
These Scientists Just Completed a 3D ‘Google Earth’ for the Brain | Shelly Fan | August 5, 2020 | Singularity Hub
“Southland was an incredibly functional show where everyone wanted to be there,” says McKenzie.
Ben McKenzie’s Journey From Reluctant Teen Idol on ‘The O.C.’ to Sheriff of ‘Gotham’ | Marlow Stern | November 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs with Xerox copier, 3-D printers have become smaller, cheaper, and more functional over time.
Essentially he is arguing that there are functional trade-offs in developmental biology.
It can lead to all types of cosmetic and functional issues down the road which are difficult if not impossible to reverse.
Some people with disabilities can be highly functional, so their inclusion in the community is not an act of moral decency.
It is low in chronic interstitial nephritis, diabetes insipidus, and many functional nervous disorders.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddAn estimation of the solids, therefore, furnishes an important clue to the functional efficiency of the kidneys.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddIt is an important point in diagnosis between functional and organic conditions.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddP3 in specimens of old adult Eutamias, shows wear, thus suggesting that P3 is functional in older chipmunks.
Genera and Subgenera of Chipmunks | John A. WhiteBesides mania or melancholia, there is a third form of functional mental disease, which is a combination of these two forms.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin Malley
British Dictionary definitions for functional
/ (ˈfʌŋkʃənəl) /
of, involving, or containing a function or functions
practical rather than decorative; utilitarian: functional architecture
capable of functioning; working
med affecting a function of an organ without structural change
psychol
relating to the purpose or context of a behaviour
denoting a psychosis such as schizophrenia assumed not to have a direct organic cause, like deterioration or poisoning of the brain: Compare organic psychosis
maths a function whose domain is a set of functions and whose range is a set of functions or a set of numbers
Derived forms of functional
- functionally, adverb
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
Scientific definitions for functional
[ fŭngk′shə-nəl ]
Affecting bodily functions but not organic structure, as a disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome. Compare organic.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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