faculty

faculty — noun

1. Any of the basic mental or physical powers that all humans are born with — for e

1.nounB1
Definition

Any of the basic mental or physical powers that all humans are born with — for example, the capacity to see, hear, reason, or remember things.

Example

After the stroke, Paloma struggled to regain her mental faculties.

collocation: mental faculties

As people age, their faculty of memory may start to weaken.

faculty of [mental power]

Common collocations
  • mental faculties
  • reasoning faculty
  • faculty of sight
  • faculty of memory
  • faculty of speech
Synonyms
  • ability

    broader term covering both natural and learned capabilities; less specific than faculty

  • capacity

    emphasises the potential or maximum limit of a faculty

  • power

    more general; can refer to physical as well as mental strengths

Usage Note

Often used in the plural (faculties) to refer to a person's mental powers in general. Frequently paired with adjectives like mental, reasoning, or critical.

Common Mistakes

He lost his faculty to walk after the accident.
He lost the ability to walk after the accident.
'faculty' in this sense refers to mental or sensory powers (sight, hearing, reason), not physical actions like walking.

2. A natural talent or skill that allows someone to perform well in a specific area

2.nounB1
Definition

A natural talent or skill that allows someone to perform well in a specific area, such as learning languages, making decisions, or teaching.

Example

Mayumi has a remarkable faculty for learning foreign languages quickly.

faculty for [activity]

Baraka's faculty for teaching made him one of the most respected professors at the school.

Common collocations
  • faculty for languages
  • faculty for teaching
  • remarkable faculty
  • rare faculty
Synonyms
  • talent

    more common in everyday English; implies a natural ability that can be developed further

  • gift

    suggests an ability seems to come naturally, almost as if given from birth

  • aptitude

    focuses on the potential to learn or do something well, often measured by tests

Antonyms
  • weakness

    an area in which someone performs poorly

Usage Note

Always followed by 'for + noun/gerund' when specifying the area of talent. More formal and less common in everyday speech than talent or gift.

Common Mistakes

She has a faculty of playing the piano.
She has a faculty for playing the piano.
the correct preposition after faculty in this sense is 'for', not 'of'.

3. Everyone who works as a teacher or academic administrator at an educational inst

3.nounB2
Definition

Everyone who works as a teacher or academic administrator at an educational institution, regarded as a single body.

Example

The faculty met to discuss changes to the curriculum for next year.

the faculty met to [do something]

Zuri was excited to join the faculty at the university's business school.

Common collocations
  • faculty members
  • join the faculty
  • faculty meeting
  • entire faculty
  • faculty and staff
Synonyms
  • teaching staff

    more formal; used in both UK and US contexts

  • academic staff

    preferred term in British universities

  • staff

    broader term that may include non-teaching employees

Usage Note

In American English, faculty can refer to teachers at both universities and high schools. In British English, it is used mainly at the university level and often pairs with 'staff' (academic staff vs. faculty). Countable as a group noun: takes a singular verb.

Common Mistakes

The faculty are meeting in different rooms.
The faculty is meeting in the main hall.
when faculty refers to the group as a whole, use a singular verb. When referring to individual members acting separately, a plural verb is acceptable.

4. A major division within a university that groups together several smaller depart

4.nounB2
Definition

A major division within a university that groups together several smaller departments covering a connected field of study.

Example

The Faculty of Engineering has more than fifty research laboratories.

Faculty of [subject area]

Lan applied for a position in the Faculty of Law at National Taiwan University.

Common collocations
  • Faculty of Arts
  • Faculty of Science
  • Faculty of Medicine
  • dean of the faculty
  • within the faculty
Synonyms
  • school

    used interchangeably in many universities (School of Law vs. Faculty of Law); school may sometimes be smaller

  • division

    more general term; less common in actual university naming

  • college

    at some universities, a college is larger than a faculty (e.g. University of London has colleges that contain faculties)

Usage Note

Always capitalised when it forms part of a proper name (Faculty of Arts). A faculty typically contains several departments; for example, a Faculty of Science may include departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. In British universities, the head of a faculty is called a dean.

Common Mistakes

I am studying in the Faculty of the Law.
I am studying in the Faculty of Law.
no article 'the' before the subject name in a faculty title.

Word family

  • facultative
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Ability is the broadest term — it covers both natural and learned skills ('She has the ability to solve complex equations'). Capacity suggests an upper limit or potential ('His capacity for learning is enormous'). Power often refers to a specific physical or mental capability ('The power of speech was affected by the injury'). Faculty is the most specific: it denotes an inborn, often sensory or cognitive power such as sight, hearing, or reason ('the faculty of memory'). Unlike ability, faculty is rarely used for learned skills; unlike capacity, it does not imply a maximum. In everyday speech, ability and power are more common than faculty, which sounds more formal. Use faculty when you want to refer to one of the basic mental channels through which humans perceive and process the world.

ability ↗capacity ↗power ↗faculty ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • students and faculty
  • faculty and staff

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Faculty entered English in the 1300s from the Old French word 'faculté', meaning 'power, ability, or authority'. This came from the Latin 'facultās', which meant 'capability, power, or opportunity', itself derived from 'facilis' (easy to do). The Latin root 'facere' (to do, make) is also the source of words like 'factory' and 'manufacture'. The meaning shifted from 'personal ability' to 'a branch of learning' (1400s) and later to 'the teachers of a university' (1600s), following the logic that a university's teaching body possesses the authority to teach in a given field.