composite
[kuh m-poz-it]
- made up of disparate or separate parts or elements; compound: a composite drawing; a composite philosophy.
- Botany. belonging to the Compositae.Compare composite family.
- (initial capital letter) Architecture. noting or pertaining to one of the five classical orders, popular especially since the beginning of the Renaissance but invented by the ancient Romans, in which the Roman Ionic and Corinthian orders are combined, so that four diagonally set Ionic volutes, variously ornamented, rest upon a bell of Corinthian acanthus leaves.Compare Corinthian(def 2), Doric(def 3), Ionic(def 1), Tuscan(def 2).
- Rocketry.
- (of a rocket or missile) having more than one stage.
- (of a solid propellant) made up of a mixture of fuel and oxidizer.
- Nautical. noting a vessel having frames of one material and shells and decking of another, especially one having iron or steel frames with shells and decks planked.
- Mathematics. of or relating to a composite function or a composite number.
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- something composite; a compound.
- Botany. a composite plant.
- a picture, photograph, or the like, that combines several separate pictures.
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- to make a composite of.
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Origin of composite
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for composite
Contemporary Examples
The composite photo whose eyes follow you around the room are less Matthew Lewis or Sheridan Le Fanu than “Scooby-Doo.”
It is adopting technology—in rocket propulsion, composite construction, and aerodynamic refinements—already in use elsewhere.
Wolf says he wanted to “create a composite portrait of the teenager that was about to be born.”
But we did have to compress time, and we did have to composite some of the characters.
Chavez was reluctant to discuss an active investigation, so he told me an intricate story that is a composite of real meth cases.
Historical Examples
In that matter I would not trust myself; why, then, should I trust the composite Democrat?
'Tis Sixty Years SinceCharles Francis Adams
This composite body of troops has been called Geddes's Detachment.
It was of a composite architecture, between the Morisco and the Spanish.
The Pirate and The Three CuttersFrederick Marryat
The composite animal in Book IX is an allegory of the parts of the soul.
The RepublicPlato
And let the figure be composite—a pair of winged horses and a charioteer.
PhaedrusPlato
composite
- composed of separate parts; compound
- of, relating to, or belonging to the plant family Asteraceae
- maths capable of being factorized or decomposeda composite function
- (sometimes capital) denoting or relating to one of the five classical orders of architecture: characterized by a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian stylesSee also Doric, Tuscan
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- something composed of separate parts; compound
- any plant of the family Asteraceae (formerly Compositae), typically having flower heads composed of ray flowers (e.g. dandelion), disc flowers (e.g. thistle), or both (e.g. daisy)
- a material, such as reinforced concrete, made of two or more distinct materials
- a proposal that has been composited
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- (tr) to merge related motions from local branches of (a political party, trade union, etc) so as to produce a manageable number of proposals for discussion at national level
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin compositus well arranged, from compōnere to collect, arrange; see component
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for composite
adj.
c.1400, from Old French composite, from Latin compositus "placed together," past participle of componere "to put together, to collect a whole from several parts," from com- "together" (see com-) + ponere "to place" (see position (n.)). The noun is attested from c.1400. Composite number is from 1730s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper