component

American  

[kuhm-poh-nuhnt, kom-] / kəmˈpoʊ nənt, kɒm- /

noun

• components
  plural

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.

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adjective

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

   the component parts of a computer system.

component British  

/ kəmˈpəʊnənt /

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

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adjective

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

Synonym Usage

See element.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• components
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of component

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

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Explanation

It's the Ikea curse: You spend four hours figuring out how to piece together your new furniture, only to be left with one random component, or part, that doesn't seem to fit anywhere. It's not surprising that component is related to a Latin word that means "to put together." You simply can't put something together without all of the correct components. Technically speaking, a component is an element of a system or a part of a machine. But a component can also be a factor or ingredient, such as the components of a decision or the components of a really good chocolate cake.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

component components

Here’s how deep Apple reportedly is cutting component orders.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

The final component of the study is where that changed.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

Sales by Canada’s wholesalers, who make up the largest component of the country’s services sector, dropped by 1.6% between July and August to C$91.58 billion and fell by a sharper 1.8% in volume terms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Secessionist movements regularly have "economic motivations," but typically those are married to a linguistic or nationalist component, Griffiths said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Moreover, it was not obvious that even the most backbreaking effort would give within several years the structure of the RNA component.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

In reality, the semi was inoperable, and did not have a hydrogen fuel cell or electric motors — the two most critical components of the truck.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

This allows researchers to follow numerous cellular components over extended periods while observing their activity in a more natural setting.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

Before them lie components of Theranos’ blood-analyzer, which Holmes hopes to turn into a new product after her 11-year prison sentence, set to begin 34 days after filming begins.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

The team then evaluated the element wheel, a rotating mechanism equipped with filters and other optical components.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

We can distinguish four components to the project.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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Related Words

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

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