Functioning

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Operating or working properly without problems or interruptions
2. Performing its intended tasks effectively and without malfunction
3. Functioning means being in a state of correct and effective operation

Etymology: Latin "fungor" meant "to perform, execute, discharge," and its past participle "functus" gave rise to "functio," a word for performance or execution. The meaning was practical from the start: a function was something done, carried through to completion. English took the word from Middle French "function," which had come down through Old French "fonction," and it arrived with the sense of a duty or activity performed. The "-ing" ending here marks an ongoing action, so "functioning" describes something in the middle of performing its task. That fits the modern sense of a machine, system or body doing what it was built or meant to do, a meaning that grows naturally from the Latin idea of carrying out a task through to the end.

Synonyms: operating, working, running, performing, executing

Antonyms: malfunctioning, failing, non-operational, idle, inactive