Word.ws English Dictionary

Past tense of function

regular verb

The past tense of function is functioned. The past participle is also functioned.

Forms of function

Base form (V1)function /ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃən/
Past tense (V2)functioned
Past participle (V3)functioned
Present participlefunctioning
Third person singularfunctions /ˈfʌŋkʃənz/

Functioned in a sentence

  • 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
  • The original clocks probably functioned to protect the cells from damage induced by high UV radiation.2014 April 5, “Quite interesting: A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week; QI orchids you…. From the entry circadian
  • Mood music on record had one important distinction: it functioned as Muzak's id.2004, Joseph Lanza, Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong, revised and expanded edition…. From the entry mood music
  • Koinons of Asclepiasts, worshippers of Asclepius, functioned and left monuments in Athens, Colyphon, and elsewhere.1990, Wesley D. Smith, “Introduction”, in Hippocrates: Pseudepigraphic Writings, E. J. Brill, →ISBN, section “The Speeches and Medical…. From the entry koinon
  • Earlier I outlined the way “yaas” functioned as in-group slang, and then as a meme in the form of yassification.2023, Abbie Levesque DeCamp, Queer Memes: Forms and Communities of Composition (PhD dissertation), Northeastern University, →ISBN, page 114. From the entry yassification

Meaning of function

  1. noun What something does or is used for.
  2. noun A professional or official position.
  3. noun An official or social occasion.

Full definition of function

Questions about the past tense of function

What is the past tense of function?
The past tense of function is functioned.
What is the past participle of function?
The past participle of function is functioned.
Is function a regular or irregular verb?
Function is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: function (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “Past tense of function.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/function. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.