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faculty

fac·ul·ty [ ˈfa-kəl-tē]

faculty

noun

[ˈfa-kəl-tē]

plural faculties

Definition of faculty

1 : ability, power: such as

a : innate or acquired ability to act or do man … how infinite in faculty— William Shakespeare

b : an inherent capability, power, or function
//the faculty of hearing

c : any of the powers of the mind (such as will, reason, or instinct) formerly held by psychologists to form a basis for the explanation of all mental phenomena

d : natural aptitude
//has a faculty for saying the right things

2a : a branch of teaching or learning (such as law, medicine, or liberal arts) in an educational institution

b archaic : something in which one is trained or qualified

3a : the members of a profession

b : the teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administration having academic rank in an educational institution
//an excellent mathematics faculty

c faculty plural : faculty members
//many faculty were present

4 : power, authority, or prerogative given or conferred
//The state has the faculty to define treason.

Synonyms & Antonyms for dainty

Synonyms: Synonyms

power

Choose the Right Synonym for dainty

gift, faculty, aptitude, bent, talent, genius, knack mean a special ability for doing something. gift often implies special favor by God or nature.
// the gift of singing beautifully faculty applies to an innate or less often acquired ability for a particular accomplishment or function.
// a faculty for remembering names aptitude implies a natural liking for some activity and the likelihood of success in it.
// a mechanical aptitude bent is nearly equal to aptitude but it stresses inclination perhaps more than specific ability.
// a family with an artistic bent talent suggests a marked natural ability that needs to be developed.
// has enough talent to succeed genius suggests impressive inborn creative ability.
// has no great genius for poetry knack implies a comparatively minor but special ability making for ease and dexterity in performance.
// the knack of getting along

Recent Examples on the Web

//About 16% of middle and high school students said don’t feel at all connected to the adults in their building while another 32% said they only felt slightly connected to faculty and staff.
— oregonlive, "Teens in Portland Public Schools say they’re not excited about class, feel little connection to staff and faculty," 14 Nov. 2019
//Students and families have various options for anonymously reporting campus issues, like speaking to faculty and staff or using electronic methods like the P3 Campus App, FortifyFL App and the SpeakOut Hotline, Griffin said.
— Katie Rice, orlandosentinel.com, "Two Tuskawilla Middle School students arrested for threats," 14 Nov. 2019
//Many of the students reported their abuse to faculty or school administrators at the time, Grubbs wrote.
— Tribune Media Services, al, "Alabama man accused of sexually abusing 17 Georgia boarding school students," 12 Nov. 2019
//ABOUT Leonard Sherman is an executive in residence and faculty member at Columbia Business School.
— Wired, "WeWork’s Failure is SoftBank’s Day Of Reckoning," 19 Oct. 2019
//In 1963, she was appointed to the faculty of the University of Maryland Surgical Nursing Department and in 1969 was named assistant director of nursing education at St. Agnes Hospital.
— Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, "Helen Jewel Gray, a Baltimore nurse practitioner, educator and hat collector, dies," 18 Oct. 2019
//Kraft is a faculty member in OCC’s photography department.
— Daily Pilot, "Around Town: Annual OC Japan Fair will bring taste of culture, tradition to O.C. fairgrounds," 17 Oct. 2019
//Such cavalier attitudes trouble Wood, who studied octopuses as a faculty member at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.
— Eric Scigliano, National Geographic, "Is it wrong to keep octopuses in captivity?," 15 Oct. 2019
//Safety and support staff came in second, while third place was awarded to the world studies immersion faculty.
— Steve Schering, chicagotribune.com, "OPRF kicks off homecoming weekend at Friday’s school assembly," 14 Oct. 2019

First Known Use of faculty

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for faculty

Middle English faculte "power, ability, field of knowledge, branch of learning at a university," borrowed from Anglo-French faculté, borrowed from Medieval Latin facultāt-, facultās (Latin, "power, ability, opportunity, quantity available"), from Latin *faklis, earlier form of facilis "easy, accommodating" + -tāt-, -tās -ty — more at facile

Note: Latin facultās presumably developed from an original *faklitāts (via *fakl̥tāts > *fakiltāts > facultās), and hence is a doublet of facilitās "quality of being easily performed" (see facility), a derivative formed after facilis had assumed its attested form (with *-klis > -cilis). The difference in meaning between the two derivatives suggests the original adjective *faklis may have meant something like "possessing the power, able" (whence "easily done," conforming to other adjectives in -ilis).