facilitate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fəˈsɪl.ɪ.teɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French faciliter (“to make easy”),^[2][3][4] from Italian facilitare,^[3][4] from facilità, ease, Latin facilitās (see facility),^[3] from facilis, easy to do, from facere, to do (see facile),^[2][4] with the English ending -ate.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make an action or process easier: 1611 in the OED, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

To help a person, lessen their labour, is from 1646.^[5] In physiology, to strengthen a nerve response or make it more likely is from 1906.^[5]

Timeline

• 1611 – to make easier.^[5]
• 1646 – to assist a person.^[5]
• 1906 – in physiology.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make easier; to help the progress of.

Word family

• facilitative
• facilitator

Related words

• facile
• facilitation
• facilitatory
• facility
• difficult
• faculty

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press