Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to a function.
- adj. Of, relating to, or indicating a mathematical function or functions.
- adj. Designed for or adapted to a particular function or use: functional architecture.
- adj. Capable of performing; operative: a functional set of brakes.
- adj. Pathology Involving functions rather than a physiological or structural cause.
- n. A linear function on vectors whose values are scalars.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to functions; relating to some office or function.
- Pertaining to an algebraical operation: as, a functional symbol.
- Having the function usual to the part or organ: as, functional wings of an insect (that is, those used for flying).
Wiktionary
- adj. In good working order.
- adj. Useful; serving a purpose, fulfilling a function
- adj. Only for fuctional purposes, notably in architecture
- adj. Having semantics defined purely in terms of mathematical functions, without side-effects.
- adj. Of a disease, such that its symptoms cannot be referred to any appreciable lesion or change of structure; opposed to organic disease, in which the organ itself is affected.
- n. A function that takes a function as its argument; More precisely: A function y=f(x) whose argument x varies in a space of (real valued, complex valued) functions and whose value belongs to a monodimensional space. An example: the definite integration of integrable real functions in a real interval.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to, or connected with, a function or duty; official.
- adj. Pertaining to the function of an organ or part, or to the functions in general; involving or affecting function rather than physiology. See functional disease, below.
- adj. Designed for or capable of a particular function or use.
- adj. Fit or ready for use or service; useable; in working order. Antonym of
out of order andnonfunctional . - adj. Designed to emphasize practical utility rather than artistic or aesthetic purposes.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of e.g. a machine) performing or capable of performing
- adj. fit or ready for use or service
- adj. designed for or adapted to a function or use
- adj. involving or affecting function rather than physiology
- adj. designed for or capable of a particular function or use
- adj. relating to or based on function especially as opposed to structure
Examples
“You've probably heard of the term functional MRI," she said.”
“In this paper, the term functional ingredients refers to substances purported to improve bodily functioning that are added to traditional foods through a manufacturing or other process.”
“It is important here that I clarify how I am using the term functional in this context.”
“You probably noticed that the term functional programming has appeared in many areas recently - the C# 3.0 and LINQ have been largely influenced by this paradigm and many of the libraries that enable and simplify writing parallel code rely on functional ideas.”
“The first time I heard the term functional construction was when I was writing the LINQ to XML section of my book LINQ Unleashed: for C# from Sams.”
“Mr. Nida used native speakers to produce what he called "functional equivalence"—translations that are true to the spirit rather than the literal words, as had been the rule in earlier times.”
The Wall Street Journal: Spreading the Word in Hundreds of Tongues
“We also increasingly find ourselves involved in what we call functional cooperation.”
“This disease is nothing but what we call a functional nervous trouble.”
“I think the advance of brain imaging and what we call functional brain imaging, seeing what your brain is doing while we challenge it, has really clarified a lot of what's happening.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘functional’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Psychology
Chapter 1
rigorous, occurrence, maze, divers, intellectual, expansion, all in all, sensation, introspection, radical, orientation, nurture and 174 more...
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Anxiety
apprehension =wor..., regularity, dread, brood, palpitation, gradual, troublesome, virtually, irrational=unreas..., phobia=irrational..., phobic=fearful= adj, affiliated=united and 54 more...
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Words That Positively Describe Furniture
Trying to say something nice to a chesterfield? Here are some suggestions:
crafted, designer, solid, ephemeral, classic, versatile, comfortable, innovative, sturdy, lightweight, colorfast, graceful and 26 more...
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THE WAY WE DRESS
These Vocabulary will learn adjectives that describe fashion choices and personal style in clothes.
chic, classic, conservative, elegant, fashionable, flashy, formal, frumpy, functional, funky, quirky, retro and 10 more...
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Programming Jargon
Stuff that comes up all the time at work.
continuation, data structure, node, closure, compiler, funarg problem, garbage collection, pointer, anonymous function, block, currying, first-class function and 63 more...

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