| 释义 |
functional, a. and n.|ˈfʌŋkʃənəl|
[f. function n. + -al1.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to some function or office; official. In weaker sense: Formal.
1631J. Burges Answ. Rejoined 205 The title of holines is not alwaies personall, but often functionall..thus..the Levites and Priests..were stiled holy. 1860S. Wilberforce Addr. Ordin. 23 The validity..of..functional acts..is not affected by the unworthiness of the appointed agent. 1874H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. v. §3. 351 He had certain national..offices to fill, for which He needed specific and functional introduction. 1889Pall Mall G. 23 May 5/1 Some..functional speeches followed.
b. Relating to the system which specializes and divides the functions of managers, workers, or employees in a business, factory, etc. U.S.
1903F. W. Taylor Shop Management §234 ‘Functional management’ consists in so dividing the work of management that each man from the assistant superintendent down shall have as few functions as possible to perform. Ibid. §240 The four functional bosses who are a part of the planning department. Ibid. §245 Functional Foremanship. 1911― Princ. Sci. Management 65 It is necessary, therefore, to provide teachers (called functional foremen) to see that the workmen both understand and carry out these written instructions. Under functional management, the old-fashioned single foreman is superseded by eight different men, each one of whom has his own special duties. 1930M. Clark Home Trade 198 Foremen are of the type termed ‘functional’.
c. As related to the arts, esp. to architecture: designating work executed with a view to its utilitarian purpose; also, of artists, builders, etc.: concerned with the use intended for their product, not with traditional or other theories of design.
1928G. H. Edgell Amer. Archit. To-day iv. 301 These..stand for the two types of daring engineering with architectural beauty and of pre-eminent monumentality with perfect functional fitness. 1931C. H. Reilly in W. Rose Outl. Mod. Knowl. 997 Their buildings are in the first and last place functional and..with them form follows function both within and without. 1937H. Read Art & Society vii. 261 (heading) Functional Art. 1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 54/2 Even before the World War..structural requirements, i.e. ‘functional’ plan, more often conflicted than harmonized with the ‘architectural’ design of a building. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Att. i. iii. 81 Light industry was embodied in a splendid compromise between functional and more conventional English taste. 1957J. Braine Room at Top vii. 72 It [sc. the house] was 1930 functional in white concrete, with a flat roof. 1966Illustr. London News 30 July 29/1 The outside of this building is functional and severe.
2. Phys.
a. Of or pertaining to the functions of an organ. Of diseases: Affecting the functions only, not structural or organic. Also of a mental disorder: having no discernible organic cause.
b. Of an organ: Serving a function (oppposed to rudimentary).
1843Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Gräfenberg 53 It seems probable that more than functional error in the membranes of the brain and spinal marrow exists in this case. 1872Darwin Emotions vi. 164 It would appear..that the lachrymal glands do not..come to full functional activity at a very early period of life. 1874H. Maudsley Respons. in Ment. Dis. ii. 44 It is with so-called functional diseases such as epilepsy, chorea, neuralgia. 1884Cassell's Family Mag. Feb. 143/2 Functional disease of the heart. 1920Proc. R. Soc. Medicine XIII. iii. Psychiatry 32 Functional disorders of particular systems and communities of neurones. 1926W. McDougall Outl. Abnormal Psychol. i. 1 There are two great classes of disorders of our mental life, those that are directly due to organic lesions of the nervous system and those which seem to imply no such lesion, no gross injury to the structure of the brain, and which are therefore called ‘functional disorders’. 1960Hinsie & Campbell Psychiatric Dict. 310/2 A functional mental disorder is one which, insofar as knowledge permits, stems from the psyche. 1962Listener 21 June 1082/3 The patient complains of, and suffers, the appropriate pains; but there are no, or inadequate, physiological grounds for them; in current medical jargon they are ‘functional’. 1971Brit. Med. Bull. XXVII. 77/1 The term ‘functional psychosis’ has no precise meaning.
c. Social Sciences. Of or pertaining to a particular mental or social function. Applied to an approach to the study of the interrelations of particular phenomena within a given framework or structure, freq. in contrast to a structural approach.
1884W. James in Mind IX. 19 The contrast is really between two aspects, in which all mental facts without exception may be taken; their structural aspect, as being subjective, and their functional aspect as being cognitions. 1898Philos. Rev. VII. 451 There is, however, a functional psychology, over and above this psychology of structure. 1921Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XXXII. 519 Functional psychology, in this sense, is especially American, and the psychology of act especially German. Ibid. 533 If the view of my book is accepted, both ‘functional’ and ‘structural’, as qualifications of ‘psychology’, are now obsolete terms. 1926B. Malinowski in Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 132/2 The Functional Analysis of Culture.—This type of theory aims at the explanation of anthropological facts at all levels of development by their function, by the part which they play within the integral system of culture, by the manner in which they are related to each other within the system, and by the manner in which this system is related to the physical surroundings. 1937G. W. Allport Personality (1938) v. 133 The boundaries between the functional systems are weak in infancy, causing the child to react as a whole. Ibid. vii. 191 For convenience of discussion this new principle [of growth] may be christened the functional autonomy of motives. 1944B. Malinowski Sci. Theory of Culture x. 115 The cogency of the functional approach consists in the fact that it does not pretend to forecast exactly how a problem posed for a culture will be solved. 1948T. G. Andrews Methods of Psychol. i. 10 Experiments of the functional type are designed to answer the question how. 1951R. C. Sheldon in Parsons & Shils Toward Gen. Theory of Action i. 35 Such difficulties are at the bottom of the dissatisfaction that many social scientists feel with the functional approach in social science, which assumes that every action has the function of promoting the maintenance of a system. 1951E. E. Evans-Pritchard Social Anthropol. iii. 56 Functional anthropology, with its emphasis on the concept of social system and hence on the need for systematic studies of the social life of primitive peoples as they are today,..not only separated..social anthropology from ethnology; it also brought together the theoretical study of institutions and the observational study of primitive social life. 1968Encycl. Soc. Sci. VI. 21/2 Structural-functional analysis is not new in either the social or the natural sciences... The only new aspect of it is its formidable new name, structural-functional analysis. Ibid. 23/2 What general conditions must be met (i.e. functional requisites) if the unit is to persist in its setting without change.
d. Pertaining to or serving a function (opp. functionless). Also, practical, utilitarian.
1864Reader 24 Dec. 792/2 The stage never needed a tonic more. There are many indications of returning health, amid all its symptoms of weakness and functional derangement. 1875Blake Zool. 25 The hoofs may be..2 functional and 2 rudimental, as in the greatest number of ruminant types. 1879Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. II. 190 My last lecture brought the subject of vaulting to its full functional development. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 401 If there be such a meaning..it alone can make clear to us why such finite human streams of thought are called into existence in such functional dependence upon brains. 1943Mind LII. 360 The whole point is to discover unexpected functional dependences, and this can only be done by operating in unusual conditions and with unusual material. 1950Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Jan. 26/2 In a good poem imagery and rhythm are functional, not merely decorative. 1960C. Winick Dict. Anthropol. 535/1 The instability in human speech is caused by the varying needs of society. These needs are manifest in functional changes of the elements, eventually resulting in modifications of the linguistic structure. 1961E. Nagel Structure of Sci. iv. 73 The more sophisticated modern notions of cause as invariable functional dependence. 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 40 It was an extremely difficult vehicle to build... It was not perfect; but it was functional.
3. Math. Of or pertaining to a function: see function n. 6.
1806Gompertz in Phil. Trans. XCVI. 176 This theorem evidently supposes that the functional values of pz are distinct in the general expression for the sum of the series. 1815Babbage Ibid. CV. ii. 390 A functional equation is said to be of the first order, when it contains only the first function of the unknown quantity. Ibid., α, β, γ, &c. are known functional characteristics. 1860G. Boole Finite Diff. xi. 218 The most general definition of a functional equation is that it expresses a relation arising from the forms of functions; a relation therefore which is independent of the particular values of the subject variable.
4. Logic. functional calculus = predicate calculus.
1933M. Black Nature of Math. 63 These new symbols are both primitive in the functional calculus. 1951Mind LX. 265 The basic notions of the lower functional calculus.
B. n. Math. [ad. F. fonctionnelle in same sense (M. Fréchet 1906, in Rendiconti del Circ. matem. di Palermo XXII. 38; Fréchet ascribes the word to Hadamard (1903), who, however, used it only as an adj., in opération fonctionnelle).] A function the value of which depends on the whole form of another function; functional analysis, the analysis of functionals.
1917Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. III. 640 (heading) On bi⁓linear and n-linear functionals. 1918G. C. Evans Functionals & their Applications i. 1 The maximum of a function is a functional of that function. 1945E. T. Bell Devel. Math. (ed. 2) xxii. 535 Volterra used the terminology ‘functions depending on other functions’, and the special case of ‘functions of lines’, for what were subsequently called functionals..by Hadamard. Ibid., F[x(t)] is called a functional of x(t) when its value depends on all the values assumed by x(t). 1948E. Hille (title) Functional analysis and semi-groups. 1966R. Stone Math. in Soc. Sci. i. 11 Often when taking a decision..what we have to maximize (or minimize) is a functional rather than a function. 1968E. T. Copson Metric Spaces Pref., The theory of the topology of metric spaces..is not only the basis of functional analysis but also unifies many branches of classical analysis.
Hence functioˈnality, functional character; in Math., the condition of being a function.
1871Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue §252 The old native Latin, whose vitality and functionality was all but purely flectional. 1879Cayley in Encycl. Brit. IX. 818/1 Functionality in Analysis is dependence on a variable or variables.
Sense A. 4 in Dict. becomes A. 5. Add: [A.] 4. Org. Chem. functional group, an atom or group of atoms which has a characteristic effect on the physical or chemical properties of the molecule to which it belongs.
1906Chem. News 28 Sept. 159/2 The authors find that the relations between functional groups in the same molecule are not a periodic function of the position of these functional groups. 1933Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LV. 3913 When there is only one functional group, the fundamental chain will be selected so as to contain this group. 1957G. I. Brown Introd. Org. Chem. i. 17 In a compound containing two or more functional groups, e.g. glycine.., which contains an – NH2 and a – COOH group, one of the groups may affect the properties of the other. 1983Norman & Waddington Mod. Org. Chem. (ed. 4) xv. 235 Functional group isomerism, exhibited by isomers which have the same molecular formula but contain different functional groups.
▸ functional food n.after Japanese kinōsei-shokuhin a foodstuff containing chemical or biological additives intended to have beneficial physiological effects on the consumer; a nutraceutical.
1990Japan Econ. Jrnl. (Nexis) 10 Feb. 18 An expanding market for so-called ‘*functional foods’, having beneficial effects on the body. 1990Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 3/7 A new generation of Japanese foods that are claimed to slow down ageing, strengthen the immune system and substantially reduce the risk of fatal heart disease are on their way to Britain. Known as ‘functional foods’, they contain chemicals to aid digestion, added dietary fibre, new artificial sweeteners and a wide variety of largely untested anti-cholesterol agents. 1994Sci. Amer. Sept. 86/2 The notion of food as elixir, hand-me-down from antiquity, has reemerged bearing a new set of names; among them are nutraceuticals, designer foods and functional foods. 2000USA Today (Electronic ed.) 19 July The risks of using herbs in functional foods are ‘unknown because there have never been any clinical trials’.
▸ functional magnetic resonance imaging n. Med. magnetic resonance imaging performed to study the function of a part of the body, usually by measuring blood flow; abbreviated fMRI.
[1988Magnetic Resonance Imaging 6 131 A combination of MR measurements..can offer a new possibility for obtaining information on renal function and suggest the possibility of concomitant anatomo functional magnetic resonance imaging.] 1989Spine 14 1057 Thirty-four patients with atlanto-axial instability due to rheumatoid arthritis were examined with plain x-ray views and *functional magnetic resonance imaging. 2001Nature 25 Oct. 793/1 We use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity in subjects with spinal cord injuries while they are executing, or attempting to execute, movements of different limbs. |