English Reference

Word

function

Phoneticsfunc·tion

US/ˈfəŋkʃən/

UK/fˈʌŋkʃən/

Definitions

01purpose or use

B1

n. the natural purpose or job of something.

n. the natural purpose of a thing or the specific duty of a person.

“The main function of the heart is to pump blood around the body.”

“The architect argued that the building's aesthetic form should be secondary to its primary function as a community hub.”

Synonyms

02formal event

B2

n. a large, formal party or official meeting.

n. a large or formal social event or official ceremony.

“He had to wear a suit to the charity function at the town hall.”

“The embassy hosted a formal function to celebrate the signing of the new trade agreement between the two nations.”

Formal

03math/computing

B2 · Computing

n. a rule that relates one amount to another, or a set of instructions in a computer program.

n. a relationship where each input has a single output, or a named section of code that performs a specific task.

“The programmer wrote a new function to calculate the total price automatically.”

“In functional programming, a pure function must return the same output for the same input without causing side effects.”

Technical

04result of something

C1

n. something that happens as a direct result of something else.

n. a variable or factor that depends on and varies with another.

“Success is often a function of hard work and a bit of luck.”

“The researcher noted that the rate of decay was a direct function of the ambient temperature in the laboratory.”

Academic

06to serve as

B2

v. to do the job of something else.

v. to serve a particular purpose or fulfill a specific role. Usually followed by the preposition 'as'.

“During the summer, the sofa functions as a bed for guests.”

“In many ancient societies, myths functioned as a way to explain natural phenomena that were not yet understood by science.”

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle French function, from Old French fonction, from Latin functiō (“performance, execution”), from functus, perfect participle of fungor (“to perform, execute, discharge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to enjoy”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Collocations

functions likecritical functioneffectively functionfollowing functionimportant functionindependently functionmultiple functionnormally function

Word family

Domains

AnthropologyBiologyChemistryComputingLogicMathematicsProgramming

This entry

Level
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Updated

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