- 1practical and useful; with little or no decoration synonym utilitarian Bathrooms don't have to be purely functional. The office was large and functional rather than welcoming.
- 2having a special purpose; making it possible for someone to do something or for something to happen a functional disorder (= an illness caused when an organ of the body fails to perform its function) a functional approach to language learning These units played a key functional role in the military operation.
- 3(especially of a machine, an organization, or a system) working; able to work The hospital will soon be fully functional.
NAmE//ˈfʌŋkʃənəli//
adverbSee functional in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: functional