function

function

1. The noun has a number of technical meanings in mathematics and information technology, and has acquired general meanings that caused Fowler (1926) to categorize it as a popularized technicality. As a noun, it is often used somewhat pretentiously in meanings for which other words would serve as well: (1) role, duty, or responsibility

• (This function is now discharged by departmental select committees —H. Calvert, 1985)

(2) use or purpose

• (Identify the main functions of a hedge before deciding its composition —Gardeners' World, 1991)

(3) action, activity, or performance

• (He was embarrassed about the nature of his illness and reluctant to discuss his bowel function with anyone —J. Merchant et al., 1989)

(4) capacity, facility, or operation (especially with a preceding word:

• How will the trade and investment function be carried out with such a reduction in resources —Times, 2005)

or (5) party or gathering

• (It was not the kind of function to which Nat was accustomed to go, but his father's employer…pressed a ticket on him —Frederic Raphael, 1960).

2. As a verb, function often substitutes unnecessarily for more workaday words such as act, operate, think, or work:

• Excessive heat may make us feel ‘stupid’ —and unable to function mentally —U. Markham, 1991

• Workers had to leave offices, while restaurants and bars were unable to function —many being forced to turn away customers from their half-eaten meals —Express, 2007.

The phrase to be a function of is a direct borrowing from mathematics, and usually means little more than to be caused by:

• This suggests that, in part, the housewife's dissatisfaction with her work is a function of downward social mobility —A. Oakley, 1990.

3. There is a place for function as a formal and technical word, but in general use the alternatives suggested above are usually worth considering.