functions

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of function.

   The software offers advanced functions for editing photos.

   Each organ in the body performs specialized functions.

   Note

   One spelling serves two words: this plural noun, and the present-tense verb in "the pump functions." A determiner or adjective in front, as in the functions or social functions, marks the noun. The plural covers every sense of the singular, from the jobs a tool or organ performs to official occasions. That is why "civic functions" can mean duties or receptions, and only context decides.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of function.

   The pump functions on solar power throughout the dry season.

   In this arrangement, the heart functions as the central pump for the whole body.

   Note

   This is the form a singular subject takes in the present: the machine functions, the system functions well. The verb is intransitive, so no direct object follows. What comes after is an adverb or a phrase, most often one with as or on: functions as a pump, functions on solar power. Without that phrase it means simply to work, to be in action.

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