facility
/fəˈsɪlɪti
/noun (plural facilities)
1A place, amenity, or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose: cooking facilities facilities for car parking a manufacturing facility...
- There are also disabled toilets at the Washburn Valley reservoir, as well as car parking and picnic facilities.
- Passengers would have a choice of airlines, terminal facilities and car parks.
- As well as a second operating theatre, the unit needs more ward space and more facilities to hold clinics and carry out research.
Synonyms
provision, space, means, solution, potential, prerequisite, equipment
amenity, resource, service, advantage, convenience, benefit
establishment, centre, installation, place, depot, station, location, premises, site, post, base, camp
informal joint, outfit, set-up
1.1A special feature of a service or machine, which offers the opportunity to do or benefit from something: an overdraft facility...
- Later this year we'll launch a facility offering flexible benefits, so that our client's employees can optimise the package their employer provides in line with their lifestyles.
- The revamped site also demonstrates the full breadth of Eddisons' service by offering the facility to search online for plant and machinery.
- The developer will also offer a full facilities management service.
Synonyms
possibility, opportunity, feature
2 [usually in singular] A natural ability to do or learn something well and easily: he had a facility for languages...
- As Eve pointed out, I have a facility for falsehoods, a talent both natural and learned.
- Even there though, in a movie which tested your patience to destruction and beyond, there were flashes of arresting talent: a facility for framing and delineating a mood and a moment.
- Along with a facility for languages, the fledgling student quickly demonstrated an aptitude for computers and taught himself programming.
Synonyms
aptitude, talent, gift, flair, bent, skill, knack, finesse, genius;
ability, proficiency, competence, capability, potential, capacity, faculty;
expertise, expertness, adeptness, prowess, mastery, artistry;
propensity, inclination, natural ability, suitability, fitness;
head, mind, brain
informal know-how
2.1 [mass noun] Absence of difficulty or effort: the pianist played with great facility...
- Shifting from gritty and fervid to soft and wet in the blink of an eye, she flicks away all competitors with effortless facility.
- However, his non-Punjabi audience may not feel estranged as he writes with ease and facility.
- Your opponent is invariably unfamiliar with it, while you master it with matchless facility.
Synonyms
ease, effortlessness, no difficulty, no trouble, no bother, facileness, simplicity;
deftness, adroitness, dexterity, proficiency, mastery
Origin
Early 16th century (denoting the means or unimpeded opportunity for doing something): from French facilité or Latin facilitas, from facilis 'easy' (see facile).
Latin facilis ‘easy’ is the base of facility. Originally meaning ease in doing something, facility developed into something that makes it easier to do something in the early 19th century, Facilis also give us facile (Late Middle English), facilitate (early 17th century), and faculty (Late Middle English).