facility

[fuh-sil-i-tee] /fəˈsɪl ɪ ti/
noun, plural facilities.
1.
Often, facilities.
  1. something designed, built, installed, etc., to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service:
    transportation facilities; educational facilities; a new research facility.
  2. something that permits the easier performance of an action, course of conduct, etc.:
    to provide someone with every facility for accomplishing a task; to lack facilities for handling bulk mail.
2.
readiness or ease due to skill, aptitude, or practice; dexterity:
to compose with great facility.
3.
ready compliance:
Her facility in organizing and directing made her an excellent supervisor.
4.
an easy-flowing manner:
facility of style.
5.
the quality of being easily or conveniently done or performed.
6.
Often, facilities. Informal. a rest room, especially one for use by the public, as in a theater or restaurant.
7.
freedom from difficulty, controversy, misunderstanding, etc.:
facility of understanding.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English facilite (< Middle French) < Latin facilitās. See facile, -ity
Related forms
nonfacility, noun, plural nonfacilities.
overfacility, noun
Can be confused
facile, facilitate, facility, felicitate.
Examples from the web for facility
  • Booker has brought to his labors here a magical facility with words.
  • But such a change, which would require the framework agreement for the facility to be amended, again risks overburdening it.
  • Astronauts who reach the facility aboard one of these missions typically live and work in orbit for about six months.
  • Alas, the great research facility was closed-due to possible anthrax contamination.
  • Five bird and butterfly friendly home gardens plus a visit to a raptor rehabilitation facility.
  • There was no rupture, meaning all the damage was contained within the facility.
  • Never go to an in-house employer provided care facility.
  • Because of his facility with metaphor and his easy writing style, the idea subsequently became his.
  • Discover advances in marine science and the latest research programs at this facility devoted to studying the undersea world.
  • But only in the past few years have researchers been able to move neutral particles at a distance with any facility.
British Dictionary definitions for facility

facility

/fəˈsɪlɪtɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
ease of action or performance; freedom from difficulty
2.
ready skill or ease deriving from practice or familiarity
3.
(often pl) the means or equipment facilitating the performance of an action
4.
(rare) easy-going disposition
5.
(military) an organization or building offering supporting capability
6.
(usually pl) a euphemistic word for lavatory
Word Origin
C15: from Latin facilitās, from facilis easy; see facile
Word Origin and History for facility
n.

early 15c., "gentleness," from Middle French facilité, from Latin facilitatem (nominative facilitas) "easiness, ease, fluency, willingness," from facilis "easy" (see facile). Its sense in English moved from "genteelness" to "opportunity" (1510s), to "aptitude, ease" (1530s). Meaning "place for doing something," which makes the word so beloved of journalists and fuzzy writers, first recorded 1872.