Facultative

/ˈfæ.kəl.tə.tɪv/ · adjective

Meaning

Of or relating to faculty, especially to mental faculty..

Definitions by Sense

1. Of or relating to faculty, especially to mental faculty.
2. Not obligate; optional, discretionary or elective.
3. That grants permission or power to do something.
4. (biology) Able to perform a particular life function, or to live generally, in more than one way.
5. (geometry, of a point) At which a given function is positive.

Example Sentences

But does the penny fare end here, said Mr. Nixon, at a merely facultative stop? Surely it ends rather at the station.

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.

facultative feeder

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.

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.

Synonyms for facultative

Antonyms for facultative

Related Words

Word Forms

• more facultative
• most facultative

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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