FACULTATIVE


Meaning of FACULTATIVE in English

ˈfakəlˌtād.iv adjective

Etymology: French facultatif, from faculté faculty + -atif -ative

1.

a. : having relation to or concerned with the grant of a privilege

facultative legislation or enactments

: involving permission rather than compulsion

the licensing provision is purely facultative

b. of money : used for convenience and having no status as legal tender

at one time local subdivisions of France issued facultative coins of small value

c. : optional

facultative courses in the sciences

2.

a. : having characteristics that permit alternate responses (as of doing or not doing or of happening or not happening) under different conditions

there is no facultative plurality in the mind; it is a single organ of true judgment — James Martineau

facultative homosexuals

b. : able to live or thrive under more than one set of conditions

certain facultative parasites that are capable of a free-living saprophytic existence

many bacteria are facultative anaerobes

3. : of or relating to the faculties

4. : nondistinctive

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.