faculty

American  

[fak-uhl-tee] / ˈfæk əl ti /

noun

• faculties
  plural

1. an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action.

   a faculty for making friends easily.

   Synonyms:

   skill, potential, knack, aptitude, capacity

2. one of the powers of the mind, as memory, reason, or speech.

   Though very sick, he is in full possession of all his faculties.

3. an inherent capability of the body.

   the faculties of sight and hearing.

4. exceptional ability or aptitude.

   a president with a faculty for management.

5. Education.

   1. the entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.

   2. one of the departments of learning, as theology, medicine, or law, in a university.

   3. the teaching body, sometimes with the students, in any of these departments.

6. the members of a learned profession.

   the medical faculty.

7. a power or privilege conferred by the state, a superior, etc..

   The police were given the faculty to search the building.

8. Ecclesiastical. a dispensation, license, or authorization.

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faculty British  

/ ˈfækəltɪ /

noun

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

2. any ability or power, whether acquired or inherent

3. a conferred power or right

4. 1. a department within a university or college devoted to a particular branch of knowledge

   2. the staff of such a department

   3. all the teaching staff at a university, college, school, etc

5. all members of a learned profession

6. archaic occupation

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Synonym Usage

See ability.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interfaculty
  noun
• underfaculty
  noun
• profaculty
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• faculties
  plural

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Etymology

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- -ty ²; cf. facility

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Explanation

A faculty refers to any of your mental or physical abilities. If you lose your faculties, you are powerless. The faculty of a school is comprised of the people who work there. Lose them, and you have a different kind of problem. Faculty comes from the Old French word faculté, which means “skill, accomplishment, or learning.” You may have great faculties of memory, sight, mobility, charm, math, and musicality, but, as Beethoven was in the end, be robbed of your faculty of hearing. Any aptitude or ability — inborn or learned — that you have is a faculty. Also, if you go to school, your teachers make up the faculty of that school.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

faculty faculties

It is largely symbolic because the faculty senate does not have the power to remove leaders.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

And on Friday, Cornell's faculty voted no-confidence in the university leadership.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

“This is not the time for classical politics,” he said at the University of Belgrade’s economics faculty as students streamed through the halls toward morning lectures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

Cornell's administration - including its president - is facing a no-confidence vote by its faculty.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Didu encourages me to launch an after-school Fashion-Design Club, but I can't find a faculty member at Carver to sponsor it because none of my teachers can thread a needle.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

“Joan is famously not a fan of leaving the Upper West Side,” the author observes—which could apply to about three-quarters of New York’s music faculties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

In the closing days of the war, close allies questioned his mental faculties.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

Murray said there is uncertainty around what faculties or courses could be affected by job losses but that the students' union is particularly concerned for PhD students who rely on supervisory teams.

From BBC ● May 17, 2026

It’s also remarkable, given that I sustained a hard blow to the back of my head, that I’ve been able to speak and maintain my mental faculties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

My faculties, roused by the change of scene, the new field offered to hope, seemed all astir.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

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Related Words

• department
• institute
• personnel
• staff
• university

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