component

[kuhm-poh-nuhnt, kom-]

noun

1. a constituent part; element; ingredient.

2. a part of a mechanical or electrical system.

   They checked the pads, rotors, and other components of my car's brake system.

3. Physics.,  the projection of a vector quantity, as force or velocity, along an axis.

4. Physical Chemistry.,  one of the set of the minimum number of chemical constituents by which every phase of a given system can be described.

5. Mathematics.

   1. a connected subset of a set, not contained in any other connected subset of the set.

   2. a coordinate of a vector.

6. Linguistics.

   1. one of the major subdivisions of a generative grammar.

      base component;

      transformational component;

      semantic component;

      phonological component.

   2. a feature determined by componential analysis.

adjective

1. being or serving as an element (in something larger); composing; constituent.

   the component parts of a computer system.

component

/ kəmˈpəʊnənt, ˌkɒmpəˈnɛnʃəl /

noun

1. a constituent part or aspect of something more complex

   a component of a car

2. Also called: element. any electrical device, such as a resistor, that has distinct electrical characteristics and that may be connected to other electrical devices to form a circuit

3. maths

   1. one of a set of two or more vectors whose resultant is a given vector

   2. the projection of this given vector onto a specified line

4. one of the minimum number of chemically distinct constituents necessary to describe fully the composition of each phase in a system See phase rule

adjective

1. forming or functioning as a part or aspect; constituent

Other Word Forms

• componential adjective
• componental adjective
• componented adjective
• subcomponent noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of component¹

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin compōnent- (stem of compōnēns, present participle of compōnere “to put together”), equivalent to com- com- + pōn(ere) “to put” + -ent- -ent

Word History and Origins

Origin of component¹

C17: from Latin compōnere to put together, from pōnere to place, put

Synonym Study

See element.

Example Sentences

In 2021, GM made the bold bet of investing in rare-earth magnet production in the U.S., as part of a broader effort to cut its reliance on China for parts, components and materials.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Major U.S. industries — from electronics to automotive manufacturing — rely heavily on Chinese components containing rare earths.

Read more on Salon

They might target just rare-earth materials and rare-earth magnets, or they might hit a range of parts and components that have some rare earths inside.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Old or new, creative imagery has been a consistent component of Wolf Alice’s expression.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The most important component of winning the battle for AI hardware supremacy may not be chips, but software.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• factor 
• ingredient 
• item 
• peripheral 
• piece 
• segment 
• unit