facilitate

verb fa·cil·i·tate \ fə-ˈsi-lə-ˌtāt \

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: facilitate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of facilitate

facilitated; facilitating

transitive verb

: to make easier : help bring about

facilitate growth

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facilitative

play \fə-ˈsi-lə-ˌtā-tiv\ adjective

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facilitate was our Word of the Day on 06/19/2012. Hear the podcast!

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

The designers and Realtors — polished and armed with endless advice on what to hide and accentuate — facilitate in making the dreams of home equate with personal success.

— leah mirakhor, latimes.com, "The fraught lives of Angelenos and their real estate are the focus of Lydia Millet's superb 'Fight No More'," 8 June 2018
Weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people. 3.

— kevin kelleher, Fortune, "Google Makes a Vague Pledge to Limit Work on Artificial Intelligence in Weapons, Surveillance," 7 June 2018
The Austrian chancellor has expressed hope that the ambassador would be able to facilitate a direct link to Mr. Trump to help organize the Vienna meeting, Austrian officials said.

— peter nicholas, WSJ, "Vladimir Putin Asks Austrian Leader to Set Up Summit With Donald Trump," 7 June 2018
Performances include those by the West Philadelphia Orchestra, Patrice and the Show, the Philly Clicks, Jasmin Yahne Dance Company, and more, and Mural Arts Philadelphia is set to facilitate make-and-take art activities throughout the afternoon.

— Philly.com, "Kendrick Lamar, Odunde Festival, and other great happenings, June 8-15," 7 June 2018
The Obama administration approached two U.S. banks to facilitate the conversion, the report said, but both refused, citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran.

— josh lederman and matthew lee, Fox News, "Secret Obama-era permit let Iran convert funds to dollars," 6 June 2018
During an email exchange, Klokov reportedly offered to arrange a meeting between Donald Trump and Putin to facilitate the Moscow tower.

— jessica estepa, USA TODAY, "Report: Ivanka Trump connected Michael Cohen to Russian who offered Putin introduction," 6 June 2018
That was too far out for Dr. Peters to facilitate a deal, Gehling said.

— tom lavell, Bloomberg.com, "Two Unwanted A380s Are Moving Closer to the Scrapheap," 5 June 2018
Volunteers are compassionate with children experiencing grief and have a few hours on Sundays to facilitate a peer support group.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Windsor Edition," 5 June 2018

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.