mindmap
root((FUNCT))
functionary
1、 Someone who performs a certain function.
2、 Someone who holds a position in a political party or government.
🌱He was one of a group of party functionaries assigned to do the dirty work of the campaign. 🌳For most of us, being described as a functionary wouldn't be a compliment. The word refers especially to a person of lower rank, with little or no authority, who must carry out someone else's orders. Bureaucrat is often a synonym. However, functionary can also refer to the world beyond government and offices; a character in a play, for example, could be called a functionary if it was obvious that her sole function was to keep the plot moving. malfunction To fail to operate in the normal or usual manner.
🌱An examination of the wreck revealed that the brakes may have malfunctioned as the truck started down the hill. 🌳A malfunctioning switch might keep us from turning on a light. A malfunctioning heart valve might require replacement with an artificial valve, and if your immune system malfunctions it may start to attack healthy cells. And a malfunction in a voting machine could result in hundreds of votes being miscounted. defunct No longer, living, existing, or functioning.
🌱The company, which had once had annual sales of $150 million, was now defunct. 🌳If you know that de- often means "the opposite of" （See DE,） it's easy to guess the meaning of defunct. Shakespeare seems to have been the first writer to use this adjective, in Henry V. Defunct American political parties include the Greenback Party, the Readjuster Party, and the Nullifier Party. Defunct Academy Awards categories include Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director. Defunct U.S. auto models include the Dudly Bug, the LuLu, the Hupmobile, the Gas-au-lec, and the Nu-Klea Starlite. But to speak of a person as defunct would sound disrespectful—which is how it sounds in e. e. cummings's famous poem "Buffalo Bill's defunct." dysfunctional 1、 Showing abnormal or unhealthy behaviors and attitudes within a group of people.
2、 Being unable to function in a normal way.
🌱A psychologist would call their family dysfunctional, but even though there's a lot of yelling and slamming of doors, they seem pretty happy to me. 🌳Dysfunctional and dysfunction have been used for almost a hundred years, often in medical writing （"brain dysfunction," "a dysfunctional liver"） but also by social scientists （"a dysfunctional city council," "diplomatic dysfunction"）. But they only really entered the general vocabulary in the 1980s, when therapists and talk-show hosts began talking about dysfunctional families. The signs of family dysfunction turned out to be numerous, and it soon began to seem as if pretty much all our families could be called dysfunctional.
2、 Someone who holds a position in a political party or government.
🌱He was one of a group of party functionaries assigned to do the dirty work of the campaign. 🌳For most of us, being described as a functionary wouldn't be a compliment. The word refers especially to a person of lower rank, with little or no authority, who must carry out someone else's orders. Bureaucrat is often a synonym. However, functionary can also refer to the world beyond government and offices; a character in a play, for example, could be called a functionary if it was obvious that her sole function was to keep the plot moving. malfunction To fail to operate in the normal or usual manner.
🌱An examination of the wreck revealed that the brakes may have malfunctioned as the truck started down the hill. 🌳A malfunctioning switch might keep us from turning on a light. A malfunctioning heart valve might require replacement with an artificial valve, and if your immune system malfunctions it may start to attack healthy cells. And a malfunction in a voting machine could result in hundreds of votes being miscounted. defunct No longer, living, existing, or functioning.
🌱The company, which had once had annual sales of $150 million, was now defunct. 🌳If you know that de- often means "the opposite of" （See DE,） it's easy to guess the meaning of defunct. Shakespeare seems to have been the first writer to use this adjective, in Henry V. Defunct American political parties include the Greenback Party, the Readjuster Party, and the Nullifier Party. Defunct Academy Awards categories include Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director. Defunct U.S. auto models include the Dudly Bug, the LuLu, the Hupmobile, the Gas-au-lec, and the Nu-Klea Starlite. But to speak of a person as defunct would sound disrespectful—which is how it sounds in e. e. cummings's famous poem "Buffalo Bill's defunct." dysfunctional 1、 Showing abnormal or unhealthy behaviors and attitudes within a group of people.
2、 Being unable to function in a normal way.
🌱A psychologist would call their family dysfunctional, but even though there's a lot of yelling and slamming of doors, they seem pretty happy to me. 🌳Dysfunctional and dysfunction have been used for almost a hundred years, often in medical writing （"brain dysfunction," "a dysfunctional liver"） but also by social scientists （"a dysfunctional city council," "diplomatic dysfunction"）. But they only really entered the general vocabulary in the 1980s, when therapists and talk-show hosts began talking about dysfunctional families. The signs of family dysfunction turned out to be numerous, and it soon began to seem as if pretty much all our families could be called dysfunctional.
FUNCT comes from the Latin verb fungi,"to perform, carry out." If your car is functional, it's able to perform its function of providing transportation. But a functional illiterate is a person who, for all practical or functional purposes, might as well not be able to read or write at all.🌸