Definition of facilitate
facilitated
;facilitating
transitive verb
: to make easier : help bring about facilitate growth
Explore Merriam-Webster
facilitate was our Word of the Day on 06/19/2012. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of facilitate in a Sentence
The strength of the inner identities that black women forged and nurtured during slavery facilitated the transition to freedom. —Darlene Clark Hine, Lure and Loathing, 1993
What physical events might have facilitated the evolution of macroscopic animals? —Andrew H. Knoll, Scientific American, October 1991
Nothing so facilitates writing as actually having something to say, yet the conditions under which, and the tools with which, writing is done can contribute to facility—or to difficulty. —Joseph Epstein, The Middle of My Tether, 1983
Cutting taxes may facilitate economic recovery.
Her rise to power was facilitated by her influential friends.
The moderator's role is to facilitate the discussion by asking appropriate questions.
Recent Examples of facilitate from the Web
-
Rights defenders say the blackouts can facilitate serious abuses.
-
In late June, the Israeli cabinet approved a 280 million shekel ($80 million) budget to facilitate cooperation with India in a variety of areas, including water and agricultural technology.
-
City commissioners briefly discussed the OutGames at their most recent meeting, lamenting the event’s massive problems while praising city staffers who stepped up to facilitate makeshift tournaments for athletes.
-
In the new proposal, the U.S. team would provide debt financing to facilitate Toshiba’s sale of its stake in the NAND...
-
The refrigerator is built in below the counter on the left side Purpose: To facilitate breast-feeding.
-
The city also allocated $82,000 toward construction and facilitating the project.
-
This one with a solid brass fingerboard scalloped to facilitate the sort of string bending guitar-guru John McLaughlin was doing at the time.
-
Stores were given a simplified nickname based on their parent chain, if any, to facilitate database searches.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'facilitate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
As with so many English words, it's easy to find a Latin origin for facilitate. It traces back to the Latin adjective facilis, meaning "easy." Other descendants of facilis in English include facile ("easy to do"), facility ("the quality of being easily performed"), faculty ("ability"), and difficult (from dis- plus facilis, which equals "not easy"). Facilis in turn comes from facere, a Latin verb meaning "to make or do." Facere has played a role in the development of dozens of English words, ranging from affect to surfeit.
Origin and Etymology of facilitate
see facile
FACILITATE Defined for English Language Learners
facilitate
playDefinition of facilitate for English Language Learners
-
: to make (something) easier : to help cause (something)
-
: to help (something) run more smoothly and effectively
FACILITATE Defined for Kids
facilitate
playDefinition of facilitate for Students
facilitated
;facilitating
: to make easier
Medical Dictionary
facilitate
playMedical Definition of facilitate
facilitated
;facilitating
: to increase the likelihood, strength, or effectiveness of (as behavior or a response) reflexes can be facilitated or inhibited; also : to lower the threshold for transmission of (an impulse)
Law Dictionary
Learn More about facilitate
-
See words that rhyme with facilitate Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for facilitate Spanish Central: Translation of facilitate Nglish: Translation of facilitate for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of facilitate for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up facilitate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!