facilitate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
facilitates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
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.
-
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
-
facilitatesimple
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facilitatessimple
-
have facilitatedperfect
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has facilitatedperfect
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am facilitatingprogressive
-
are facilitatingprogressive
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is facilitatingprogressive
-
have been facilitatingperfect progressive
-
has been facilitatingperfect progressive
Past
-
facilitatedsimple
-
had facilitatedperfect
-
was facilitatingprogressive
-
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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ACT Vocabulary List
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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:
His generosity is so well known, in fact, that an industry of lobbyists, lawyers and other insiders has reportedly sprung up to facilitate clemency for wealthy criminals.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
Ahead of the results, RBC analysts also had their eyes on the tariff refunds, which were seen as a way to boost profitability to facilitate reinvestments in the consumer experience.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
To try and facilitate the pathway to top level football for young academy players, Football Association rules require WSL sides to include eight homegrown players in their squad lists.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
“Welcome to the Med Beds Technology Registration Department, where we facilitate access to cutting-edge quantum medical technology for health restoration and wellness enhancement,” the email read.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
I would be happy to do anything possible to facilitate such a path.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
People do this because rolling funds into a plan often facilitates another maneuver and the funds are often still accessible.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
“There is a deep connection with the cosmos in Mexico. I’ve seen it in anthropology books; this vision of art as a healing agent that facilitates spiritual growth.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
"However, our data show that water mainly facilitates mantle melting. The key factor for high gold concentrations is the high - and in part repeated - degree of melting."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
The company’s platform facilitates the digital ads that surround mobile apps, especially games.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
For the plant the change is highly disadvantageous, but it facilitates harvest by humans—the grain waits on the stem to be collected.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
For example, perhaps increased closeness to parents facilitated by smartphones or gentler parenting styles leads young adults in their 20s and early 30s to be more comfortable living with their folks.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The investigation found Leonard received $66 million in cash and equity from four companies facilitated by Ballmer and Clippers executives at the behest of Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and then-agent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
A Spanish police report leaked last week flagged "total permissiveness" by Moroccan security forces during the rush, saying their numbers at the Ceuta border were lower than usual and that some actively facilitated the crossings.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Navy data in a report over the weekend that said the U.S. facilitated 74 transits through Hormuz from Thursday through Saturday, or around 25 transits a day on average.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
A public that had grown up with news illustrations and hazy photo layouts was now treated to breathtaking action shots facilitated by vastly improved photographic equipment.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
She is a volunteer who is involved in attempts to deliver food and medicine and facilitating evacuations to Oleshky.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Zucker said league rules prevented her from facilitating directly, but Wachtell Lipton found that Zucker simply sidestepped that rule by passing along the Clippers’ preferred terms for a Leonard endorsement through a business agent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Indiana acknowledged that Planned Parenthood was facilitating legal abortions.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
"Releasing her in particular would go a long way to facilitating Myanmar's re-invitation at the political level," Michaels said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
