constituency

noun

con·stit·u·en·cy | \ kən-ˈstich-wən(t)-sē

, -ˈsti-chə-, -ˈsti-chü-ən(t)- \

plural constituencies

Definition of constituency

1a : a body of citizens entitled to elect a representative (as to a legislative or executive position) the governor's liberal constituency

b : the residents in an electoral district The senator's constituency includes a large minority population.

c : an electoral district

2a : a group or body that patronizes, supports, or offers representation creating … a grass-roots constituency for continuing the project— Fred Reed

b : the people involved in or served by an organization (such as a business or institution) … regards its corporate customers as its prime constituency.— Andrew Hacker

Examples of constituency in a Sentence

The senator's constituency includes a large minority population. He was elected to represent a Liverpool constituency.

Recent Examples on the Web People who dislike Cheney’s particular foreign policy, or who want to see the Trumpian revision of the Republican Party continue, are loudly insisting that Cheney’s views have no constituency beyond a few Never Trump pundits. — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, "Liz Cheney’s Losing Gambit," 5 May 2021 Such reforms also offer an opening to another crucial constituency -- suburban women who were hammered by the recession and could be pivotal in the 2022 midterm elections. — Stephen Collinson And Maeve Reston, CNN, "Biden's economic push tests the power of pocketbook issues to sway America's polarized electorate," 30 Apr. 2021 Climate aid does not have a vocal domestic constituency: the Green New Deal does not even mention it. — Nives Dolsak And Aseem Prakash, Forbes, "Here’s Why Domestic Politics Shaped Biden’s Climate Summit Agenda," 28 Apr. 2021 Ironically, López Obrador’s biggest constituency, the working class, may suffer the most from droughts, floods and other effects of a warming climate. — Los Angeles Times, "For Mexico’s president, the future isn’t renewable energy — it’s coal," 12 Apr. 2021 Biden’s constituency, constituting 38% of his support in November’s election, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the electorate. — Anchorage Daily News, "Biden faces questions about commitment to minimum wage hike," 16 Feb. 2021 And football has a much bigger constituency than the athletic department staff members who lost jobs or suffered pay cuts. — Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY, "Colleges still have millions to fire football coaches despite claiming financial trouble from coronavirus," 18 Dec. 2020 It’s also the poorest county in Oregon and has a very conservative constituency. — NBC News, "As the pandemic rages, local newspapers try to break through to readers," 10 Dec. 2020 Each part of the government that is elected has a specific constituency to which it is beholden. — Addison Scufsa, Star Tribune, "One clear result of the 2020 election: At last, let's abolish the Electoral College," 10 Nov. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'constituency.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.