functional

Forms

1.In good working order.
- While we assume that phonological subsyllabic units are functional prior to reading skill, we have not ruled out a possible interaction with the writing system.
2.Useful; serving a purpose, fulfilling a function.
- That sculpture is not merely artistic, but also functional: it can be used as a hatrack.
- The two are often one and the same, says Walt Thompson, professor of kinesiology at Georgia State University and lead author of the ACSM survey – although functional fitness can apply to the younger generation as well.
3.Of or relating to one's role or office; official.
4.Only for functional purposes, notably in architecture.
- A functional construction element generally must meet higher technical but lower aesthetical requirements.

1.A function that takes a function as its argument; more precisely, a function whose argument varies in a space of (real- or complex-valued) functions and whose value belongs to a monodimensional space.
- An example of a functional is the definite integration of integrable real functions in a real interval.
2.A scalar-valued linear function on a vector space.
3.An object encapsulating a function pointer (or equivalent).

Rare· #4049

Etymology tree

Old French fonction

Middle French functionbor.

English function

English -al

English functional

From function + -al.