facilitate
verb
Mead GruverRyan StantonKayla Lasure
Did you know?
English isn’t always easy, but the origin of facilitate is nothing but: the word 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"). English isn’t the only Latin-influenced language that has facilis to thank for "easy" words: the word for "easy" is fácil in both Spanish and Portuguese, and facile in both Italian and French. The way that facilitating something makes it "easy" (or "easier," as it were) can be likened to paving a road to make traveling to one’s destination smoother. Similarly, when we say, for example, that applying a healthy layer of mulch around the base of a newly planted tree facilitates robust growth, we mean that it (figuratively) paves the way for, or brings about, the sapling’s success.
Examples of facilitate in a Sentence
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.
Arunkumar Paramasivan, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
On Monday's episode of The Tonight Show, the Mission: Impossible star teamed up with host Jimmy Fallon to facilitate a surprise reunion between a U.S. Navy sailor and his mom after two long years apart.
—Emlyn Travis Published, EW.com, 20 May 2025
To crack down on gangs that for years had dominated life in El Salvador, Bukele declared a state of emergency three years ago that has suspended civil liberties, including due process, and facilitated the imprisonment of about 85,000 people.
—Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2025
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
—Nicole Winfield, Chicago Tribune, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for facilitate
Cite this Entry
“Facilitate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilitate. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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facilitate
verb
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facilitate
transitive verb
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facilitate
transitive verb
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