Adjacent Words

Constituent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONSTITUENT, a. [L., to set. See Statue, Statute.] Setting; constituting; applied to parts of a thing that are essential to it. Hence, necessary or essential; elemental; forming, composing or making as an essential part.
Body, soul, and reason, are the three constituent parts of a man.
Oxygen and hydrogen are the constituent parts of water.
CONSTITUENT, n.
1. He or that which sets, fixes or forms; he or that which constitutes or composes.
Their first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler constituent than chance.
2. That which constitutes or composes, as a part, or an essential part.
The lymph in those glands is a necessary constituent of the aliment.
3. One who appoints or elects another to an office or employment.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: constitutional in the structure of something (especially your physical makeup) [syn: constituent, constitutional, constitutive, organic] n
1: an artifact that is one of the individual parts of which a composite entity is made up; especially a part that can be separated from or attached to a system; "spare components for cars"; "a component or constituent element of a system" [syn: component, constituent, element]
2: a member of a constituency; a citizen who is represented in a government by officials for whom he or she votes; "needs continued support by constituents to be re-elected"
3: something determined in relation to something that includes it; "he wanted to feel a part of something bigger than himself"; "I read a portion of the manuscript"; "the smaller component is hard to reach"; "the animal constituent of plankton" [syn: part, portion, component part, component, constituent]
4: (grammar) a word or phrase or clause forming part of a larger grammatical construction [syn: constituent, grammatical constituent]
5: an abstract part of something; "jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an effective ingredient of a speech" [syn: component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: French constituant, from Middle French, from present participle of constituer to constitute, from Latin constituere Date: 1622 1. one who authorizes another to act as agent ; principal 2. a member of a constituency 3. an essential part ; component, element 4. a structural unit of a definable syntactic, semantic, or phonological category that consists of one or more linguistic elements (as words, morphemes, or features) and that can occur as a component of a larger construction Synonyms: see element II. adjective Etymology: Latin constituent-, constituens, present participle of constituere Date: 1660 1. serving to form, compose, or make up a unit or whole ; component <constituent parts> 2. having the power to create a government or frame or amend a constitution <a constituent assembly> • constituently adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 composing or helping to make up a whole. 2 able to make or change a (political etc.) constitution (constituent assembly). 3 appointing or electing. --n. 1 a member of a constituency (esp. political). 2 a component part. 3 Law a person who appoints another as agent. Etymology: L constituent- partly through F -ant (as constitute)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Constituent Con*stit"u*ent, a. [L. constituens, -entis, p. pr. See Constitute.] 1. Serving to form, compose, or make up; elemental; component. Body, soul, and reason are the three parts necessarily constituent of a man. --Dryden. 2. Having the power of electing or appointing. A question of right arises between the constituent and representative body. --Junius.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Constituent Con*stit"u*ent, n. 1. The person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs. Their first composure and origination require a higher and nobler constituent than chance. --Sir M. Hale 2. That which constitutes or composes, as a part, or an essential part; a component; an element. We know how to bring these constituents together, and to cause them to form water. --Tyndall. 3. One for whom another acts; especially, one who is represented by another in a legislative assembly; -- correlative to representative. The electors in the district of a representative in Congress, or in the legislature of a State, are termed his constituents. --Abbot. To appeal from the representatives to the constituents. --Macaulay. 4. (Law) A person who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact. --Burrill.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(constituents) 1. A constituent is someone who lives in a particular constituency, especially someone who is able to vote in an election. N-COUNT 2. A constituent of a mixture, substance, or system is one of the things from which it is formed. Caffeine is the active constituent of drinks such as tea and coffee. N-COUNT: usu N of n 3. The constituent parts of something are the things from which it is formed. (FORMAL) ...a plan to split the company into its constituent parts and sell them separately. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Forming, composing, constituting, component. 2. Appointing, electoral. II. n. 1. Component, element, principle, ingredient, component part. 2. Elector, voter.

Moby Thesaurus

ab ovo, adjunct, adoptive, air, appointive, appurtenance, aspect, atom, atomic particles, basal, basic, brute matter, building block, census, chemical element, choosing, choosy, circumstance, component, composition, constituents, constitutive, content, contents, detail, discriminating, division, divisions, earth, eclectic, elective, electoral, element, elemental, elementary, elementary particle, elementary unit, elements, essential, factor, feature, fire, fixings, formative, fraction, fundamental, fundamental particle, gut, guts, hyle, hypostasis, index, ingredient, ingredients, innards, insides, integral, integrant, inventory, item, items, list, makings, material, material world, materiality, matter, molecule, monad, natural world, nature, of the essence, original, part, part and parcel, particular, parts, physical world, plenum, portion, primal, primary, primitive, radical, selecting, selective, specialty, stuff, substance, substantial, substantive, substratum, the four elements, underlying, unit of being, water, whole