functionalizev.
/ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃn̩əlʌɪz/, /ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃn̩l̩ʌɪz/, /ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃənlˌʌɪz/, /ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃ(ə)nəlʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈfəŋ(k)ʃ(ə)nəˌlaɪz/ rare before 20th cent.
1. transitive. To provide with a function or functions; to make functional.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Functionalize, to assign to some function or office.
1868 Amer. Phrenol. Jrnl. Sept. 105/2 Elements or organs are developed or exist in a rudimentary condition and are functionless, but represent elements or organs specially functionalized in allied groups.
1933 Country Life 2 Dec. p. xlii/1 Designers of new patterns who wish to be up to date and ‘functional’ are not faced with an easy problem in seeking to functionalise the already reasonably functional.
1972 Daily News (Johnson County, Kansas) 4 Nov. 2 a To functionalize your husband's caftan without destroying its authenticity, slit the neckline as far down as the waistline or whatever depth seems most functional.
2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 3 Feb. (Arts & Leisure section) 31/4 They were taking the Pop aesthetic and functionalizing it.
2. transitive. Originally U.S. To organize (a business or workplace) such that work is distributed according to the specialized function of individual workers or departments; to distribute (work) in this way. Cf. functional adj. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > management methods or systems > adopt doctrines, methods, or management systems [verb (transitive)] > adopt other methods or systems
unitize1908
corporatize1910
functionalize1911
Taylorize1930
unitize1931
divisionalize1982
1911 Evid. Interstate Commerce Comm. Proposed Advances Freight Rates IV. 2661 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (61st Congr., 3rd Sess: Senate Doc. 725) Will you now describe what you did with a view of preparing the way for the 20 men who were to functionalize this business?
1912 Industr. Engin. & Engin. Digest July 13/1 Management can, and does under Scientific Management, attempt to functionalize work as far as possible.
1963 Jrnl. Business 36 234/2 Co-ordination in many large firms was not obtained by functionalizing line and staff activities in this manner.
1981 Times 30 May 1/2 The changes are seen as an attempt to ‘functionalize’ the Ministry of Defence.
1990 Toronto Star (Nexis) 21 Jan. f1 We had to specialize and functionalize the bank, and we decided to differentiate retail services from others.
3.
a. transitive. Chemistry. To introduce a functional group into (a molecule, or one of its bonds or atoms) in order to alter the chemical behaviour of the molecule.
ΚΠ
1958 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 80 2903/2 This communication describes an efficient and selective method for functionalizing C18.
1990 Tetrahedron 46 863 It is possible to functionalize the molecule with two identical functional groups.
2010 Science 29 Jan. 566/1 Methylene C—H bonds are among the most difficult to selectively functionalize.
b. transitive. Chemistry and Materials Science. To attach molecules or nanoparticles to the surface of (a material) in order to alter its physical or chemical properties.
ΚΠ
1976 European Rubber Jrnl. 158 34/2 Apparently this reagent can carry a wide range of substituent groups, and by this means can be used to ‘functionalise’ natural rubber.
1996 Science 6 Sept. 1371/2 Functionalizing an STM [= scanning tunneling microscope] tip with an appropriate molecular adsorbate alters the density of states near the Fermi level of the tip and changes its imaging characteristics.
2008 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 20639/1 Seven different capture antibodies were used to functionalize different regions of a chip to detect seven different protein analyates.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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