function
Syllables: func·tionUK/ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃən/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/ˈfʊŋ(k)ʃən/
function noun: what something does or is used for.
Noun
function (plural functions)
- What something does or is used for.
- Although they serve the same function across the plant, animal and fungal kingdoms, sperm and eggs vary wildly in their structure and biochemistry, even among closely related species. […] Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat...2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2013
- Glu Mobile, who realigned its workforce towards centralized GaaS functions last year, announced earlier this month that it will shut down GameSpy Technology on May 31. The service provides multiplayer functionality for dozens of games on consoles, computers and mobile devices.2014 May 1, Jenna Pitcher, “Glu Mobile acquires Diner Dash developer PlayFirst”, in Polygon, archived from the original on 27 Sep 2023
- A professional or official position.
- Synonyms:
- occupation, office, part, role
- An official or social occasion.
- Our hotel is hosting a function for all the warehouse workers on the night of April 18.
- Synonyms:
- affair, occasion, social occasion, social function
- A party.
- Something which is dependent on or stems from another thing; a result or concomitant.
- Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x
- A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.
- A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.
- Synonyms:
- map, mapping, mathematical function, operator, transformation
- A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.
- Synonyms:
- procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine, func, funct
- The physiological activity of an organ or body part.
- The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.
- The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.
Verb
function (third-person singular simple present functions, present participle functioning, simple past and past participle functioned)
- To have a function.
- To carry out a function; to be in action.
- Although the laying workers functioned in a queenlike manner, they were unable to suppress ovarian development as effectively as the queen.1991, Kenneth G Ross, Robert W Matthews, The social biology of wasps
- Antonyms:
- malfunction
function meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
function in Hindi
- official or social occasion
- प्रसंग prasaṅg
- what something does or is used for
- काम kām, काज kāj, उपयोग upyog
- professional or official position
- पद pad, पदवी padvī
- mathematics: a relation between a set of inputs and a set of permissible outputs
- फलन phalan
function in Tamil
- செயல்பாடு, விழா, செயலாற்றி, செயலாற்று, நிரல்செயலாற்றி, செயற்கூறு
function in Marathi
- function, purpose
- काम kām
function in Urdu
- what something does or is used for
- کام kām, کاج kāj, اُپْیوگ upyog
- mathematics: a relation between a set of inputs and a set of permissible outputs
- تَفاعُل tafā'ul
- computing: routine that returns a result
- وَظِیفَہ vazīfa
More languagesFewer languages
- function in Bengali
- চলা cola, কাম kam, কাজ kaj
- function in Telugu
- స్థానము sthānamu, ధర్మము dharmamu
- function in Malayalam
- ഫലനം phalanaṁ, ഏകദം ēkadaṁ
- function in Kannada
- ಕ್ರಿಯೆ, ಕಾರ್ಯ, ಕರ್ತವ್ಯ, ಕೆಲಸ
- function in Punjabi
- ਕਾਜ kāj
- function in Gujarati
- ફળ phaḷ, ચાલવું cālvũ
- function in Sanskrit
- कार्य kāryà, वृत्ति vṛtti
- function in Assamese
- ফলন phôlôn, কাম kam, কাজ kaz
- function in Nepali
- चल्नु calnu
- function in Tagalog
- taan, laan, kabisa
- function in Arabic
- وَظِيفَة waẓīfa, دَالَّة dālla, مَهَمَّة mahamma, تَابِع tābiʕ
- function in Malay
- fungsi, berfungsi
- function in Indonesian
- fungsi, faal
- function in Thai
- ฟังก์ชัน fang-chân
- function in Vietnamese
- chức năng, vai trò, hàm, hàm số
- function in Myanmar
- ဖန်ရှင် hpanhrang
Examples of function in a sentence
- The derivative of a continuous, differentiable function that twice crosses the axis must have a zero.
- The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function may all lie on the critical line.
- The function takes two arguments, an array of size n and an integer k.
Synonyms of function
19 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of function
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | functions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | functions |
| present participle | functioning |
| past participle | functioned |
| past | functioned |
Origin of function
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”).
Words formed from function
- Ackermann function
- activation function
- adaptive-control function
- afunction
- analytical function generator
- anatomy of function
- antihyperbolic function
- antitrigonometric function
- arc-hyperbolic function
- arithmetic function
- bent function
- bifunction
- bifunctional
- binary function
- biofunction
- black-box function
- bodily function
- Borel function
- busy beaver function
- ceil function
- ceiling function
- choice function
- cofunction
- complex function
- consumption function
- cryptofunction
- cubic function
- cumulative distribution function
- derived function
- Dickman function
- difunctional
- digamma function
- diode function generator
- Dirac delta function
- Dirichlet eta function
- disfunction
- divisor function
- dysfunction
- eigenfunction expansion
- electron wave function
- elliptic function
- empty function
- endofunction
- Euler's totient function
- executive function
- exponential generating function
- feedback transfer function
- Fermi-Dirac distribution function
- floor function
- forcing function
- forward transfer function
- functional
- functionalism
- functionality
- functionate
- function call
- function code
- function-evaluation routine
- function failure safety
- function generator
Phrases with function
- function key
- NOT function
- odd function
- psi function
- set function
- Airy function
- beta function
- cost function
- even function
- function keys
- function word
- Hann function
162 more phrasesFewer phrases
- hash function
- line function
- loss function
- mass function
- onto function
- real function
- sign function
- sink function
- step function
- unit function
- wave function
- work function
- zeta function
- Baire function
- Bloch function
- error function
- function calls
- function codes
- function space
- function table
- function value
- function words
- Gabor function
- gamma function
- mimic function
- Morse function
- phase function
- point function
- power function
- Schur function
- staff function
- theta function
- total function
- truth function
- vital function
- Walsh function
- Bessel function
- boxcar function
- convex function
- entire function
- function object
- function spaces
- function tables
- function values
- Hankel function
- Kelvin function
- lambda function
- linear function
- member function
- Möbius function
- payoff function
- random function
- sample function
- scalar function
- signum function
- simple function
- Skolem function
- smooth function
- social function
- sponge function
- stream function
- stress function
- Turing function
- vector function
- window function
- acidity function
- Boolean function
- bounded function
- concave function
- control function
- density function
- function objects
- function pointer
- gain of function
- generic function
- Green's function
- Hartley function
- impulse function
- inverse function
- natural function
- pairing function
- partial function
- penalty function
- quartic function
- quintic function
- regular function
- sigmoid function
- special function
- utility function
- virtual function
- Wannier function
- additive function
- analytic function
- built-in function
- circular function
- constant function
- critical function
- cylinder function
- distance function
- explicit function
- function pointers
- gains of function
- Gaussian function
- Gompertz function
- harmonic function
- Herbrand function
- identity function
- implicit function
- integral function
- lacunary function
- Langevin function
- logistic function
- monotone function
- periodic function
- rational function
- transfer function
- trapdoor function
- trigamma function
- aggregate function
- algebraic function
- anonymous function
- Brillouin function
- composite function
- Helmholtz function
- incidence function
- inclusion function
- indicator function
- injective function
- inverting function
- Lambert W function
- monotonic function
- objective function
- partition function
- piecewise function
- polygamma function
- quadratic function
- recursive function
- switching function
- symmetric function
- valuation function
- comparable function
- complexity function
- computable function
- continuous function
- decreasing function
- elementary function
- excitation function
- function generators
- function multiplier
- generating function
- homogenous function
- hyperbolic function
- increasing function
- integrable function
- Lagrangian function
- liver function test
- luminosity function
- measurable function
- membership function
- orthogonal function
- polynomial function
- predefined function
Words that rhyme with function
Questions about function
- What does function mean?
- Function means what something does or is used for.
- What is function in Hindi?
- Function in Hindi is प्रसंग (prasaṅg), फलन (phalan), काम (kām). See Function meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is function?
- Function can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce function?
- Function is pronounced /ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of function?
- The plural of function is functions.
Words near function in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: function (page history and authors); function (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); काम (Marathi) (page history and authors); কাজ (Bengali) (page history and authors); ధర్మము (Telugu) (page history and authors); function (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ચાલવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); कार्य (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); কাজ (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-function.ogg.
Cite this entry: “function.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/function. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.