constituent

¹con·stit·u·ent

noun \-wənt, -ənt\

Definition of CONSTITUENT

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

Examples of CONSTITUENT

1. She's pledged to help her elderly constituents.
2. Many senators have received calls from constituents who want them to vote in favor of the law.
3. the chemical constituents of the liquid

Origin of CONSTITUENT

French constituant, from Middle French, from present participle of constituer to constitute, from Latin constituere

First Known Use: 1622

Related to CONSTITUENT

Synonyms: building block, component, element, factor, ingredient, member

Antonyms: whole

Related Words: basis, part and parcel; detail, item, particular, point; aspect, characteristic, facet, feature, trait; division, fragment, particle, partition, piece, portion, section, sector, segment; subcomponent

Near Antonyms: aggregate, composite, compound, mass; entirety, sum, summation, total, totality; admixture, amalgam, amalgamation, blend, combination, intermixture, mix, mixture

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See Synonym Discussion at element

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism