function
function (fŭngkʹshən) noun
1. The action for which one is particularly fitted or employed.
2. a. Assigned duty or activity. b. A specific occupation or role: in my function as chief editor.
3. An official ceremony or a formal social occasion.
4. Something closely related to another thing and dependent on it for its existence, value, or significance: Growth is a function of nutrition.
5. Abbr. f Mathematics. a. A variable so related to another that for each value assumed by one there is a value determined for the other. b. A rule of correspondence between two sets such that there is a unique element in the second set assigned to each element in the first set.
verb, intransitive
functioned, functioning, functions
To have or perform a function; serve: functioned as ambassador.
[Latin fūnctiō, fūnctiōn-, performance, execution, from fūnctus past participle of fungī, to perform, execute.]
funcʹtionless adjective
Synonyms: function, duty, office, role. The central meaning shared by these nouns is "the actions and activities assigned to, required of, or expected of a person": the function of a teacher; a bank clerk's duty; assumed the office of financial adviser; the role of a parent.