functionalist

American  

[fuhngk-shuh-nl-ist] / ˈfʌŋk ʃə nl ɪst /

Or Functionalist

noun

1. a person who advocates, or works according to, the principles of functionalism.

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adjective

1. of or relating to functionalism.

2. built or made according to the principles of Functionalism by a person associated with the movement.

Etymology

Origin of functionalist

First recorded in 1910–15; functional + -ist

Example Sentences

But its “Romanesque churches, Renaissance synagogues, art nouveau apartments, and functionalist office buildings remind us that history shapes the present.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

I mean, we can do a pragmatic, functionalist reading, and we can say it goes against the spirit of the amendment.

From Slate • Dec. 28, 2024

Note that this irreconcilable difference between functionalist and causal theories has nothing to do with intelligence, natural or artificial.

From Scientific American • Sep. 8, 2023

He spent days perusing the historic center’s hangarlike markets and countless workshops, many of them tucked into crumbling colonial houses and crooked functionalist apartment blocks.

From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2021

International Style: generic name attached to the functionalist, anti-ornamental, and geometric tendency of architecture in the second quarter of the 20th century.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai