component

American  

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

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.

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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, 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

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adjective

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

Related Words

See element.

Other Word Forms

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

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

Example Sentences

It is also routing components to be assembled into products bound for the U.S. through other countries to get around tariffs.

From The Wall Street Journal

In fact, memory and other component shortages could negatively impact Qualcomm’s business in China for the rest of the year.

From MarketWatch

Small U.S. manufacturers in particular have been hurt by higher costs for foreign components that make them less competitive.

From The Wall Street Journal

While details on the U.S.-India trade deal haven’t been announced, the analysts don’t expect it to cover auto components for passenger vehicles and light trucks, as well as metal.

From The Wall Street Journal

Such minerals are used in components critical for the production of high-end military technologies and consumer products such as cars.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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