 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Facility \Fa*cil"i*ty\ (f[.a]*s[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), noun; pl. {Facilities} (f[.a]*s[i^]l"[i^]*t[i^]z). [L. facilitas, fr. facilis easy: cf. F. facilit['e]. See {Facile}.]
1. The quality of being easily performed; freedom from difficulty; ease; as, the facility of an operation.
The facility with which government has been overturned in France. --Burke.
2. Ease in performance; readiness proceeding from skill or use; dexterity; as, practice gives a wonderful facility in executing works of art.
3. Easiness to be persuaded; readiness or compliance; -- usually in a bad sense; pliancy.
It is a great error to take facility for good nature. --L'Estrange.
4. Easiness of access; complaisance; affability.
Offers himself to the visits of a friend with facility. --South.
5. That which promotes the ease of any action or course of conduct; advantage; aid; assistance; -- usually in the plural; as, special facilities for study.
Syn: Ease; expertness; readiness; dexterity; complaisance; condescension; affability.
Usage: {Facility}, {Expertness}, {Readiness}. These words have in common the idea of performing any act with ease and promptitude. Facility supposes a natural or acquired power of dispatching a task with lightness and ease. Expertness is the kind of facility acquired by long practice. Readiness marks the promptitude with which anything is done. A merchant needs great facility in dispatching business; a banker, great expertness in casting accounts; both need great readiness in passing from one employment to another. ''The facility which we get of doing things by a custom of doing, makes them often pass in us without our notice.'' --Locke. ''The army was celebrated for the expertness and valor of the soldiers.'' ''A readiness to obey the known will of God is the surest means to enlighten the mind in respect to duty.''
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
facility
noun
1: a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry; "the assembly plant is an enormous facility" [syn: {installation}]
2: skillful performance or ability without difficulty; "his quick adeptness was a product of good design"; "he was famous for his facility as an archer" [syn: {adeptness}, {adroitness}, {deftness}, {quickness}]
3: a natural effortlessness; "they conversed with great facility"; "a happy readiness of conversation"--Jane Austen [syn: {readiness}]
4: services and space and equipment provided for a particular purpose; "catering facilities"; "toilet facilities"
5: a service that an organization or a piece of equipment offers you; "a cell phone with internet facility"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
254 Moby Thesaurus words for "facility": WC, abandon, ability, ableness, accommodation, accouterments, adaptability, address, adeptness, adequacy, adroitness, advantage, agency, agreeability, agreeableness, aid, airmanship, alacrity, amenability, amenity, apparatus, appliance, appliances, appointments, appurtenance, appurtenances, aptitude, aptness, armament, artfulness, artisanship, artistry, atelier, barbershop, beauty parlor, beauty shop, bench, bendability, bent, biddability, bog, bravura, brightness, brilliance, butcher shop, caliber, capability, capableness, capacity, celerity, cleverness, comfort, command, company, competence, complex, compliableness, concern, control, convenience, conveniences, coordination, corporation, craft, craftsmanship, cunning, deftness, desk, dexterity, dexterousness, dextrousness, diplomacy, docility, drive, ductibility, ductility, duffel, ease, easiness, educability, efficacy, efficiency, effortlessness, elasticity, elegance, engine, enginery, equipage, equipment, establishment, expertise, expertness, extendibility, extensibility, facilities, faculty, fictility, finesse, firm, fitness, fitting, fittings, fixture, fixtures, flair, flexibility, flexility, flexuousness, flow, fluency, formativeness, furnishings, furniture, gear, genius, give, grace, gracefulness, grip, handiness, head, horsemanship, house, impedimenta, impressionability, ingeniousness, ingenuity, installation, installations, institution, intelligence, john, kit, know-how, lavatory, leaning, lightness, limberness, litheness, loft, loo, machine, machinery, malleability, marksmanship, masterfulness, mastership, mastery, materiel, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism, moldability, motivation, motive power, motor, munition, munitions, organization, outfit, paraphernalia, parlor, plant, plasticity, pliability, pliancy, plumbing, poetry, poise, power plant, power source, practical ability, privy, proficiency, propensity, prowess, qualification, quickness, readiness, receptiveness, receptivity, resource, resourcefulness, responsiveness, rest room, rig, rigging, savoir-faire, savvy, seamanship, sensibility, sensitiveness, sequacity, servility, shop, skill, skillfulness, smoothness, speed, spontaneity, springiness, stock-in-trade, structure, studio, style, submissiveness, subservience, sufficiency, suppleness, susceptibility, sweatshop, swiftness, system, tackle, tact, tactfulness, talent, teachability, teachableness, technical brilliance, technical mastery, technical skill, technique, tensileness, tensility, the goods, the stuff, things, timing, toilet, tractability, tractility, trainableness, turn, unconstraint, utensils, utility, virtuosity, what it takes, willingness, willowiness, wit, wizardry, work site, work space, workbench, workhouse, working space, workmanship, workplace, workroom, workshop, worktable, yieldingness
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |