faculty

facility, faculty

1. Facility (from Latin facilis meaning ‘easy’) means ‘ease or ready ability to do something, aptitude’:

• Firstborn children have greater verbal facility, and there is evidence that they have more successful relationships with their teachers —Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1973.

It also has a concrete meaning which has proliferated greatly in the 20c, of ‘something that provides an amenity or service’, used in the singular or plural and referring either to the provision of an amenity or to the amenity itself:

• Other recreational facilities include two lighted tennis courts, a swimming pool and a jogging trail —Philadelphia Inquirer, 1976

• You don't need a generously proportioned tub to fit a spa or whirlpool bath facility —Do It Yourself, 1990

• Solihull Council…has set out plans to build a ‘large’ casino at the NEC, although the facility could be built anywhere in the borough —Birmingham Post, 2007.

A common use is in finance and banking, to denote an arrangement such as a loan or overdraft:

• If you want credit, a bank facility is usually better value than even a good dealer can offer —Opera Now, 1990.

2. Faculty means ‘an aptitude or ability to do something’ in the sense of an inborn or inherent power rather than a proficiency developed (for example) by practice. The faculty of language is the natural ability of humans to speak, whereas a facility for language is an individual's particular skill in speaking.