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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

facultative en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfæ.kəlˌteɪ.tɪv/ (General-American)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈfæ.kəl.tə.tɪv/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From French facultatif. By surface analysis, faculty + -ative.

Meanings

  1. Of or relating to faculty, especially to mental faculty.
  2. Not obligate; optional, discretionary or elective.
    • The policy would be a “facultative” policy, whereby the insurers would first have assessed the risk involved in the particular shipment and decided to accept it. 2020, Jonathan Mance et al., editors, Insurance Disputes, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 584:
    • But does the penny fare end here, said Mr. Nixon, at a merely facultative stop? Surely it ends rather at the station. 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
  3. That grants permission or power to do something.
  4. Able to perform a particular life function, or to live generally, in more than one way.
    • This hypothesis might be supported by the evidence that there are varieties of pathogenic fungi of which parasitism is in varying degrees, between obligate parasitic and facultative parasitic. The facultative parasite, which usually lives as a saprophyte but under some conditions can parasitize on a plant, seems to be a pathogen with the lowest parasitic adaptation. 1993, Hachiro Oku, Plant Pathogenesis and Disease Control, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 10:
    • facultative feeder
  5. (of a point) At which a given function is positive.
    • For then it is seen, as before, that it is the points outside the two sheets which are facultative, and not the points between the surface and the touching plane. 1866, George Salmon, Lessons Introductory to the Modern Higher Algebra, Dublin: Hodges, Smith, and Co., page 197:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most facultative Degree=Sup lexicographic
more facultative Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Antonyms

indispensable · prerequisite · essential · requisite · needed · necessary · necessitous · obligate · necessar · basic · required

Deriveds

facultativity · facultatively · facultativeness · nonfacultative

Synonyms

nonobligate · volitional · nonrequisite · facultative · unrequired · optionary · nonmandatory · voluntary · free · elective · optional · discretionary · noncompulsory · nonrequired · nonobligatory

Translations (34)

hy կամընտրական (not obligate; optional) · tr istemli (not obligate; optional) · tr kabiliyetli (of or relating to faculty) · be неабавязко́вы (not obligate; optional) · fi vapaaehtoinen (not obligate; optional) · es facultativo (not obligate; optional) · ru факультати́вный (not obligate; optional) · io fakultativa (not obligate; optional) · de optional (not obligate; optional) · fi myöntävä (granting permission) · fr facultatif (not obligate; optional) · bg факултативен (not obligate; optional) · pl fakultatywny (not obligate; optional) · id fakultatif (not obligate; optional) · de freigestellt (granting permission) · bg незадължителен (not obligate; optional) · tr ihtiyarî (not obligate; optional) · ru необяза́тельный (not obligate; optional) · tr seçmeli (not obligate; optional) · kk факультативтік (not obligate; optional) · fi fakultatiivinen (able to perform a particular life function) · fi salliva (granting permission) · fi valinnainen (not obligate; optional) · nl facultatief (not obligate; optional) · de fähig (of or relating to faculty) · uk необов'язко́вий (not obligate; optional) · de fakultativ (not obligate; optional) · fi kyvykkyys- (of or relating to faculty) · tr istemli (granting permission) · tr yetenekli (of or relating to faculty) · fi kyky- (of or relating to faculty) · eo fakultativa (not obligate; optional) · pt facultativo (not obligate; optional) · tr isteğe bağlı (granting permission)