different between authority vs function

English

Alternative forms

• authourity, authoritie, autority, auctoritie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctorite, autorite (“authority, book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auct?rit?s (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”). For the presence of the h, compare the etymology of author.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???????ti/, /???????ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??????ti/, /??????ti/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /???t???ti/
• Hyphenation: au?thor?i?ty
• Rhymes: -???ti

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable, plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government.
3. (countable) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
   • 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

     To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

4. Government-owned agency which runs a revenue-generating activity.

   New York Port Authority

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• have something on good authority

References

• authority at OneLook Dictionary Search
• authority in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• authority in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Middle French function, from Old French fonction, from Latin functi? (“performance, execution”), from functus, perfect participle of fungor (“to perform, execute, discharge”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??(k)??n/, /?f??k?n?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f??k??n/, [?f??k???n], [?f??k?n?]
• Hyphenation: func?tion
• Rhymes: -??k??n

Noun

function (plural functions)

1. What something does or is used for.

   Synonyms: aim, intention, purpose, role, use

2. A professional or official position.

   Synonyms: occupation, office, part, role

4. An official or social occasion.

   Synonyms: affair, occasion, social occasion, social function

5. Something which is dependent on or stems from another thing; a result or concomitant.
6. A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.
7. (mathematics) A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.

   Synonyms: map, mapping, mathematical function, operator, transformation

   Hypernym: relation

8. (computing) A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.

   Synonyms: procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine, func, funct

9. (biology) The physiological activity of an organ or body part.
10. (chemistry) The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.
11. (anthropology) The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.

Hyponyms

• subfunction

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• function on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

function (third-person singular simple present functions, present participle functioning, simple past and past participle functioned)

1. (intransitive) To have a function.

   Synonyms: officiate, serve

2. (intransitive) To carry out a function; to be in action.

   Synonyms: go, operate, run, work

   Antonym: malfunction

Related terms

• functional
• dysfunction, dysfunctional

Translations

Middle French

Noun

function f (plural functions)

1. function (what something's intended use is)

Descendants

• ? English: function
• French: fonction