constituent
nounEtymology From Latin cōnstituēns, present participle of cōnstituō (“to establish”), from com- (“together”) + statuō (“to set, place, establish”).
1
A part, or component of a whole.
- We know how to bring these constituents together, and to cause them to form water.1865, John Tyndall, The Constitution of the Universe, published 1869, page 11:
- Just as a regiment is ultimately made up of soldiers, so the sentence is of morphemes—they are its ultimate constituents.1970, Thomas Pyles, John Algeo, English: An Introduction to Language, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 135:
2
A person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs.
- whose first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler Constituent than either Chance or the ordinary method of meer Natural causes.a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:
3
A resident of an area represented by an elected official, particularly in relation to that official.
- The candidate himself, the son and heir of a peer, feels that he is truly of the same flesh and blood as his constituents; how amiably he smiles!—how bland are his manners!—and with what cordiality does he shake hands with the greasiest and the worst!1835, James Fenimore Cooper, The Monikins, volume 1, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, pages 75–76:
- He had been chief justice of Chester when Delamere, then Mr. Booth, represented that county in parliament. Booth had bitterly complained to the Commons that the dearest interests of his constituents were intrusted to a drunken jackpudding.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 40:
1 more example
- But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online.2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:
4
Government, Politics A voter who supports a (political) candidate; a supporter of a cause.
- But he [Joe Biden] believes that non-college-educated voters, the neglected constituents he wants to take back from the Republicans, hardly know about the big bills emanating from Washington with banal names.2023 January 19, Franklin Foer, “How Joe Biden Wins Again”, in The Atlantic:
5
Law One who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact
6
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A functional element of a phrase or clause.
- Thus, the postulation of a Noun Phrase constituent is justified on morphological grounds, since it is not obvious how we could describe the grammar of the genitive s inflection in English without saying that it's a Noun Phrase inflection.1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 65:
- In the first bracketting^([sic]), old and men are constituents of an intermediate unit old men, and in the second, men, and and women are similarly the constituents of men and women. The units are made up directly of these words: therefore these are, more precisely, their immediate constituents.1993, Peter Matthews, “Central Concepts of Syntax”, in Joachim Jacobs, Arnim von Stechow, Wolfgang Sternefeld, Theo Vennemann, editors, Syntax, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 95:
- Derived terms
- constituent assembly, constituent country, core constituent, non-constituent
- Related terms
- substituent, substitute