What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between use and function?

use | function |

Function is a synonym of use.



As nouns the difference between use and function

is that use is the act of using while function is what something does or is used for.

As verbs the difference between use and function

is that use is to accustom; to habituate while function is to have a function.

use

English

(wikipedia use)

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) from Old English nytt.

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of using.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • Usefulness, benefit.
  • * Milton
    • God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
  • A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
    • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
    • I have no further use for these textbooks.
  • (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
    • DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
    BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
  • (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
  • * Spenser
    • Let later age that noble use envy.
  • * Shakespeare
    • How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
  • (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
  • * Shakespeare
    • O Caesar! these things are beyond all use .
  • (religion) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
    • the Sarum, or Canterbury, use'''; the Hereford '''use'''; the York '''use'''; the Roman '''use ; etc.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
    • From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use .
  • (forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
    • Synonyms
    * (act of using) employment, usage, note, nait * (usefulness) benefit, good, point, usefulness, utility, note, nait
    Derived terms
    * disuse * fair use * hyper-use * misuse * no use * overuse * reuse * underuse * useful * useless * usement * what’s the use

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ).

    Verb

    (us)
  • (archaic) To accustom; to habituate.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
  • To employ; to apply; to utilize.
  • :
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
    • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • To exhaust the supply of; to consume by employing
  • :
  • To exploit.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.}}
  • (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:How wouldst thou use me now?
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:Cato has used me ill.
  • To habitually do; to be wont to do.
  • :
  • *Bible, 1 (w) iv.9
  • *:Use hospitality one to another.
  • *, I.48:
  • *:Peter Pol'', doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as ''Monstrelet'' reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of ''Paris , ever sitting sideling, as women use .
  • * 1693 , Sir Norman Knatchbull, Annotations upon some difficult texts in all the books of the New Testament
    • For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.
  • (past tense with infinitive) To habitually do. See used to.
  • :
    • Synonyms
    * engage, utilise * (exploit) take advantage of
    Derived terms
    * abuse * disuse * reuse * misuse * usability * usable * usage * used * used to * useful * user

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * 100 English basic words English heteronyms 1000 English basic words ----

    function

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • What something does or is used for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
    • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions , which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.}}
  • A professional or official position.
  • (senseid)An official or social occasion.
  • A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.
  • (mathematics) A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.
  • (computing) A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.
  • (biology) The physiological activity of an organ or body part.
  • (chemistry) The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.
  • (anthropology) The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.

    • Synonyms

    * (what something does or is used for) aim, intention, purpose, role, use * (professional or official position) occupation, office, part, role * (official or social occasion) affair, occasion, social occasion, social function * many-to-one map, many-to-one mapping, mathematical function, operation, transformation * procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine

    Hypernyms

    * (mathematics) relation

    Related terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * absolutely continuous function * acidity function * adaptive-control function * additive function * additive set function * adjoint wave function * aggregate function * Airy function * Airy stress function * algebraic function * almost-periodic function * alternating function * analytic function * analytical function generator * anatomy of function * antihyperbolic function * antisymmetric wave function * antisymmetrized wave function * antitrigonometric function * arc-hyperbolic function * autocorrelation function * Baire function * bei function * ber function * Bessel function * beta function * bifunctional * biharmonic function * Bloch function * Boolean function * Borel measurable function * bounded function * boxcar function * Brillouin function * built-in function * Cantor function * characteristic function * circular function * cofunction * comparable function * complementary function * complete class of decision function * composite function * compressadensity function * computable function * concave function * confluent hypergeometric function * conjugate convex function * connect function * constant function * constraint function * contiguous function * continuous function * convex function * cosine function * cost function * countably additive set function * countably subadditive set function * critical function * cross-correlation function * cyclosymmetric function * cylinder function * decreasing function * delta function * density function * describing function * differentiable function * difunctional * digamma function * diode function generator * Dirac wave function * discriminant function * disfunction * dissipation function * driving-point function * dysfunction * effectively computable function * eigenfunction * eigenfunction expansion * Einstein partition function * electron wave function * electronic work function * elementary function * elementary symmetric function * elliptic function * Emden function * entire function * equivalent propositional function * error function * essentially bounded function * Euler's phi function * even function * excitation function * executive ego function * explicit function * exponential density function * exponential function * exponential generating function * feedback transfer function * Fermi-Dirac distribution function * form function * forward transfer function * Fowler function * frontogenetic function * function code * function failure safety * function generator * function key * function multiplier * function object * function space * function switch * function table * function unit * function-evaluation routine * functional * functionalism * functionality * gamma function * general-purpose function generator * generalized transmission function * generating function * Green's function * Hamiltonian function * Hammett acidity function * Hankel function * harmonic function * Heaviside unit function * hei function * her function * Hildebrand function * homogeneous function * Hugoniot function * hybrid wave function * hyperbolic function * hypergeometric function * identity function * implicit function * implicit function theorem * impulse function * incidence function * incomplete beta function * incomplete gamma function * increasing function * independent function * influence function * information function of a partition * initial mass function * inner function * integrable function * integral function * invariant function * inverse function * inverse function theorem * inverse hyperbolic function * inverse trigonometric function * inverting function * J function * Jacobian elliptic function * jump function * kei function * ker function * Koebe function * Lagrange stream function * Lagrangian function * * * Langevin function * left-continuous function * Legendre function * Leverett function * line function * linear discriminant function * linear function * Liouville function * locally integrable function * logarithmic trigonometric function * logarithmically convex function * loop transfer function * loss function * lower semicontinuous function * luminosity function * Lyapunov function * malfunction * malfunction routine * Massieu function * mathematical function program * Mathieu function * Maxwell's stress function * measurable function * membership function * meromorphic function * microspec function * minimal brain dysfunction syndrome * Minkowski distance function * * modified Bessel function * modified Hankel function * moment generating function * momentum wave function * monofunctional compound * monogenic analytic function * monotone function * monotone nondecreasing function * monotone nonincreasing function * monotonic increasing function * Morera's stress function * multifunction array radar * multilinear function * multiplicative number-theoretic function * natural function * Neumann function * nonfunctional packages software * normal density function * normalized function * normalized support function * NOT function * nuclear response function * number-theoretic function * objective function * odd function * optimizing control function * orthogonal function * orthonormal function * parabolic cylinder function * partial function * partial recursive function * particle distribution function * partition function * Patterson function * penalty function * periodic function * phase function * piecewise-continuous function * Planck function * point characteristic function * point function * Poisson density function * polynomial function * positive linear functional * positive real function * power function * predefined function * principal function * probability density function * probability mass function * programmed function key * proper rational function * propositional function * psi function * pulsed transfer function * quadratic function * Rademacher function * radial distribution function * radicofunctional name * random function * rational function * Rayleigh's dissipation function * real-valued function * recursive function * regular function * regulatory control function * restricted function * Riccati-Bessel function * Riemann function * Riemann P function * Riemann zeta function * sample function * scalar function * scattering function * * self-dual switching function * self-organizing function * sensitivity function * separated-function synchrotron * set function * sharpness function technique * shear-viscosity function * sigma function * simple function * simply periodic function * single-valued function * sinusoidal function * skewed density function * Smarandache function * source function * special function * spectral function * spherical Bessel function * staff function * step function * step-function generator * Stokes stream function * stress function * subadditive function * subadditive set function * subfunction * subfunctional * subharmonic function * subsine function * summable function * superadditive function * superharmonic function * support function * switch function * switching function * symmetric function * tapped-potentiometer function generator * test function * tetrafunctional molecule * thermionic work function * thermodynamic function of state * theta function * tool-function controller * torsion function * transcendental function * transfer function * transition function * transmission function * trigamma function * trigonometric cofunction * trigonometric function * truth function * Turing computable function * universal transmission function * universal wavelength function * upper semicontinuous function * user-defined function * variable diode function generator * vector function * viscous dissipation function * wave function * Wannier function * Weierstrass function * Weierstrassian elliptic function * weight function * work function

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to have a function
  • to carry on a function; to be in action

    • Synonyms

    * (to have a function) officiate, serve * (to carry on a function) go, operate, run, work

    Antonyms

    * (to carry on a function) malfunction

    Related terms

    * functional * dysfunction, dysfunctional