faculty

[fak-uh l-tee] /ˈfæk əl ti/
noun, plural faculties.
1.
an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action:
a faculty for making friends easily.
2.
one of the powers of the mind, as memory, reason, or speech:
Though very sick, he is in full possession of all his faculties.
3.
an inherent capability of the body:
the faculties of sight and hearing.
4.
exceptional ability or aptitude:
a president with a faculty for management.
5.
Education.
  1. the entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.
  2. one of the departments of learning, as theology, medicine, or law, in a university.
  3. the teaching body, sometimes with the students, in any of these departments.
6.
the members of a learned profession:
the medical faculty.
7.
a power or privilege conferred by the state, a superior, etc.:
The police were given the faculty to search the building.
8.
Ecclesiastical. a dispensation, license, or authorization.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English faculte < Anglo-French, Middle French < Latin facultāt- (stem of facultās) ability, power, equivalent to facil(is) easy (see facile) + -tāt- -ty2; cf. facility
Related forms
interfaculty, noun, plural interfaculties, adjective
profaculty, adjective
underfaculty, noun, plural underfaculties.
Synonyms
1. capacity, aptitude, knack, potential, skill. See ability.
Examples from the web for faculty
  • But the college has a relatively enormous faculty of tutors one to about eight students.
  • As well as its own faculty, it draws academics and expertise from the rest of the university, offering students a good choice.
  • Print or digital subscriptions at the college rate are available to current college faculty, staff, administrators and students.
  • College students, faculty or staff, please visit our college rate page.
  • Academic journals often solicit book reviews from faculty.
  • Besides, it's my good fortune to find any humor in a faculty meeting.
  • In the long run, it seems they will lose their better faculty and thus have an impact on these service courses.
  • College faculty members who are bullied or abused by coworkers often feel they must either suffer through it or quit.
  • It has excellent links with business and good faculty.
  • The teaching programs of individual faculty members have never been reviewed by all faculty, nor should they be.
British Dictionary definitions for faculty

faculty

/ˈfækəltɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
one of the inherent powers of the mind or body, such as reason, memory, sight, or hearing
2.
any ability or power, whether acquired or inherent
3.
a conferred power or right
4.
  1. a department within a university or college devoted to a particular branch of knowledge
  2. the staff of such a department
  3. (mainly US & Canadian) all the teaching staff at a university, college, school, etc
5.
all members of a learned profession
6.
(archaic) occupation
Word Origin
C14 (in the sense: department of learning): from Latin facultās capability; related to Latin facilis easy
Word Origin and History for faculty
n.

late 14c., "ability, means, resources," from Old French faculté (14c.) "skill, accomplishment, learning," and directly from Latin facultatem (nominative facultas) "power, ability, wealth," from *facli-tat-s, from facilis (see facile).

Academic sense "branch of knowledge" probably was the earliest in English (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 12c.), on notion of "ability in knowledge." Originally each department was a faculty; the use in reference to the whole teaching staff of a college dates from 1767.

faculty in Medicine

faculty fac·ul·ty (fāk'əl-tē)
n.
A natural or specialized power of a living organism.