function
noun · verb
Simple meaning
What something is used for.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fuhngkshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfʌŋkʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
What something is used for
“The function of an auger is to bore holes.”
A formal or official social gathering or ceremony
An official or social occasion.
A professional or official position.
A relation such that one thing is dependent on another
“Height is a function of age.”
Something which is dependent on or stems from another thing; a result or concomitant.
verb
Perform duties attached to a particular office or place or function
Serve a purpose, role, or function
intransitive
To have a function.
intransitive
To carry out a function; to be in action.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: What something is used for
Used this way, function is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The function of an auger is to bore holes.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “function of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: function of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Whatnoun
“The function of an auger is to bore holes.”
Relationnoun
“Height is a function of age.”
More ways to use function
- “The function of an auger is to bore holes.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Performing or able to perform its regular function.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Designed for or capable of a particular function or use.
With respect to function.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A call that passes control to a subroutine.
A word that is uninflected and serves a grammatical function but has little identifiable meaning.
An organic process that takes place in the body.
Graph showing how a particular characteristic of a device varies with other parameters.
Function of an angle expressed as a ratio of the length of the sides of right-angled triangle containing the angle.
An operation that controls the recording or processing or transmission of interpretation of data.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The study of anatomy in its relation to function.
The branch of genomics that determines the biological function of the genes and their products.
A form of magnetic resonance imaging of the brain that registers blood flow to functioning areas of the brain.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.