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

The company said it could eventually earn up to $1 billion due to the contract by supplying components to other builders of the satellite network.

From Los Angeles Times

It became synonymous with German military power, producing the Big Bertha gun during World War I, and later building tanks and U-boat components for the Nazis.

From The Wall Street Journal

You enter the question you're having difficulty answering and the chatbot can break down its components and help you understand it.

From BBC

“Our office remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners and with other Department of Justice components to stop these hate-fueled crimes and to ensure the safety of all people and public officials.”

From Los Angeles Times

The Chinese manufacturers of cheap Android phones will be the most impacted, but even Apple and Samsung could choose to pursue mitigation strategies like downgrading other components.

From Barron's

Related Words

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