<B>factional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with factions; partisan. <BR> <I>Ex. Both ... know how to keep from getting embroiled in factional fights (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>causing faction or strife. adv. <B>factionally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factionalism">
<B>factionalism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a condition characterized by faction; tendency to factional differences. <BR> <I>Ex. Whether ... pleas for less factionalism will succeed in reuniting the party will not be clear for some weeks (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="factionist">
<B>factionist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a faction. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who stirs up strife. </DL>
<A NAME="factious">
<B>factious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>fond of stirring up disputes; given to causing faction. <BR> <I>Ex. Many of the old Puritan colonists retained their factious temperaments in the New World.</I> (SYN) quarrelsome. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or caused by faction. adv. <B>factiously.</B> noun <B>factiousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factitious">
<B>factitious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> developed by effort; not natural; forced; artificial. <BR> <I>Ex. His factitious smile convinced me that he was not sincere. Extensive advertising can cause a factitious demand for an article.</I> adv. <B>factitiously.</B> noun <B>factitiousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factitive">
<B>factitive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Grammar.) <DD><B> 1. </B>(of a verb) giving a certain character to a person or thing. Such a verb takes both a direct object and an objective complement. (Examples:) They <I>made</I> him captain. They <I>called</I> him a fool. We <I>painted</I> the door green. <DD><B> 2. </B>having to do with a verb of this kind. adv. <B>factitively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="facto">
<B>facto, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) in fact; in deed; by the fact. </DL>
<A NAME="factoflife">
<B>fact of life,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fact that cannot be disputed or changed, however undesirable it may be. <BR> <I>Ex. It was a "fact of life" that nations which could not pay their way in the world did not have any influence on the course of events (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> See also <B>facts of life.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="factoid">
<B>factoid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a contrived fact; something having no existence except as an item reported in the news media. <BR> <I>Ex. Juggling facts, guesses, and factoids as suits his fancy, ... he loses authority as both biographer and novelist (George P. Elliott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="factor">
<B>factor, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any one of the causes that help to bring about a result; one element in a situation. <BR> <I>Ex. Ability, industry, and health are factors of his success in school. Endurance is an important factor of success in sports.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of the numbers or expressions which produce a given number or quantity when multiplied together. <BR> <I>Ex. 5 and 2 are factors of 10.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>a person who does business for another; an agent; commission merchant. <DD><B> b. </B>an agent managing a trading post. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] so impressed Hudson's Bay officials in London that he was transferred out of Labrador to Montreal as the company's chief factor (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Biology.) a gene. <BR> <I>Ex. The terms gene, factor, and determiner will be used as synonyms to designate the units responsible for the transmission of hereditary characters (Harbaugh and Goodrich).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Scottish.) a person who manages an estate; steward; bailiff. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Law.) a person appointed to manage property that is forfeited or taken away. <DD><B> 7. </B>an agent or company that lends money to a firm which has not yet collected its bills. When the bills are collected, the firm pays the factor a commission on the bills paid and interest on the loan. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to separate or resolve into factors; factorize. <DD><B> 2. </B>to buy and collect the receivable accounts of (a business). <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be a factor; act or serve as a factor. </DL>
<A NAME="factorable">
<B>factorable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Mathematics.) that can be separated or resolved into factors. </DL>
<A NAME="factorage">
<B>factorage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the business of a factor or agent; buying and selling on commission. <DD><B> 2. </B>the commission paid to a factor or agent. </DL>
<A NAME="factoranalysis">
<B>factor analysis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Statistics.) any one of various methods for correlating a set of values by analyzing the smallest possible number of factors. </DL>
<A NAME="factorial">
<B>factorial, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>(Mathematics.) of or having to do with a factor or a factorial. <BR> <I>Ex. n! is a factorial notation.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with a factory. <DD><I>noun </I> (Mathematics.) the product of an integer multiplied by all its lower integers. (Example:) The factorial of 4 is 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 = 24, and is symbolized 4!. </DL>
<A NAME="factorialseries">
<B>factorial series,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Mathematics.) a series proceeding by factorials instead of powers of the variable. </DL>
<A NAME="factoring">
<B>factoring, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the business of buying bills, accounts receivable, or other obligations, and collecting them to one's own account. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Mathematics.) process of resolving into factors. </DL>
<A NAME="factorization">
<B>factorization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of factorizing. </DL>
<A NAME="factorize">
<B>factorize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Mathematics.) to resolve into factors. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Law.) to garnishee. </DL>
<A NAME="factorship">
<B>factorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the office or business of a factor. </DL>
<A NAME="factory">
<B>factory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a building or group of buildings where things are manufactured. A factory usually has machines in it. <BR> <I>Ex. Everywhere there sprang up factories using first water then steam power (H. G. Wells).</I> (SYN) mill, plant. <DD><B> 2. </B>a trading post in a foreign country for merchants and factors. adj. <B>factoryless.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factoryfarm">
<B>factory farm,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a farm using many of the methods of a factory. </DL>
<A NAME="factoryfarming">
<B>factory farming,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a system of farming using many of the methods of a factory, especially in the processing of livestock. </DL>
<A NAME="factoryship">
<B>factory ship,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a ship equipped for whaling and the processing of captured whales. </DL>
<A NAME="factotum">
<B>factotum, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tums.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person employed to do all kinds of work. <BR> <I>Ex. He is our factotum; he does many odd jobs. Saunders was a model valet and factotum (Charles Reade).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) a busybody. </DL>
<A NAME="factrix">
<B>factrix, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman factor or agent. </DL>
<A NAME="factsheet">
<B>fact sheet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a printed form issued by a government agency or business, listing the facts and data about anything. </DL>
<A NAME="factsoflife">
<B>facts of life,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>facts that cannot be disputed or changed, however undesirable they may be. <BR> <I>Ex. He reminded the party of the hard political facts of life.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the basic facts about sex and reproduction. <BR> <I>Ex. to teach children the facts of life.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="factual">
<B>factual, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>concerned with fact; consisting of facts; of the nature of fact. <BR> <I>Ex. The explorer kept a factual account of the trip in his diary. While the script may do violence to factual accuracy, the film catches magnificently the spirit of a unique historical moment (Reporter).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>real; actual. adv. <B>factually.</B> noun <B>factualness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factualism">
<B>factualism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> emphasis on or extensive use of facts. n., adj. <B>factualist.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="factuality">
<B>factuality, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the state of being factual; factualness. </DL>
<A NAME="factum">
<B>factum, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ta.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a statement of the facts of a case or controversy; memorial. </DL>
<A NAME="facture">
<B>facture, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act, process, or manner of making anything; construction. <DD><B> 2. </B>the thing made. </DL>
<A NAME="facula">
<B>facula, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Astronomy.) one of the bright patches on the surface of the sun. </DL>
<A NAME="facular">
<B>facular, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a facula. </DL>
<A NAME="facultative">
<B>facultative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>giving a faculty, privilege, or permission; giving the power of doing or not doing something. <BR> <I>Ex. a facultative order or decree.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>left to one's choice; optional. <DD><B> 3. </B>that may or may not take place or assume a specified character. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Biology.) having the power to exist under different conditions of life, as an organism which is usually a parasite but which can also grow as a saprophyte. adv. <B>facultatively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="faculty">
<B>faculty, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a power of the mind or body. <BR> <I>Ex. the faculty of hearing, the faculty of memory. Old people sometimes lose their faculties.</I> (SYN) capacity, capability. <DD><B> 2. </B>the power to do some special thing, especially a power of the mind. <BR> <I>Ex. She has a great faculty for arithmetic. ... that faculty of beholding at a hint the face of his desire and the shape of his dream (Joseph Conrad).</I> (SYN) knack, talent. <DD><B> 3. </B>the teachers of a school, college, or university. <DD><B> 4. </B>a department of learning in a university. <BR> <I>Ex. the faculty of theology, faculty of law. The faculty of medicine is made up of doctors, surgeons, etc., who teach and do research.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the members of a learned profession. <BR> <I>Ex. The medical faculty is made up of many doctors including surgeons, internists, and pathologists.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Ecclesiastical.) a permission, authorization, or right granted by an authority, as the permission granted by a bishop to a priest to hear confession within the diocese. <DD><B> 7. </B>a power or privilege given by some authority. <DD><B> 8. </B>one of the powers into which the mind was formerly believed to be divided, such as the reason, will, or memory. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Archaic.) a trade; profession. </DL>
