functor
/ˈfʌŋktə
/noun
1 Logic & Mathematics A function; an operator.This is part of a very broad-reaching theme in algebraic topology in which functors represented and corepresented by various spaces are used in analyzing geometry and topology....
- Suffice it to say that adjoint functors pervade mathematics and this pervasiveness is certainly one of the most mysterious fact that category theory reveals about mathematics and probably thinking in general.
- That is, if we have two categories, one of which has more structure than the other, then we obtain a functor from the first category to the second simply by ‘forgetting’ the extra structure.
2 Linguistics another term for function word.
Origin
1930s: from function, on the pattern of words such as factor.
- afternoon tea
- afternose
- after oar
- after one's own heart
- after-order
- after (or in) the fashion of
- after-ox
- afterpain
- afterpains
- afterpart
- after-party
- afterpiece
- afterpotential
- after-proof
- after-reckoning
- after-ripening
- after-roll
- afters
- after-sail
- aftersales
- after-school
- after-season
- after-sensation
- aftershaft
- aftershave