constituent

American  

[kuhn-stich-oo-uhnt] / kənˈstɪtʃ u ənt /

adjective

1. serving to compose or make up a thing; component.

   the constituent parts of a motor.

2. having power to frame or alter a political constitution or fundamental law, as distinguished from lawmaking power.

   a constituent assembly.

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noun

constituents plural

1. an element, material, etc. that is part of something else; component.

2. a person who authorizes another to act on their behalf, such as a voter in a district represented by an elected official.

3. Grammar. an element considered as part of a construction.

constituent British  

/ kənˈstɪtjʊənt /

adjective

1. forming part of a whole; component

2. having the power to frame a constitution or to constitute a government (esp in the phrases constituent assembly, constituent power )

3. rare electing or having the power to elect

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noun

1. a component part; ingredient

2. a resident of a constituency, esp one entitled to vote

3. law a person who appoints another to act for him, as by power of attorney

4. linguistics a word, phrase, or clause forming a part of a larger construction Compare immediate constituent ultimate constituent

Synonym Usage

See element.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preconstituent
  noun
• nonconstituent
  adjective
• constituently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• constituents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of constituent

First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin constituent- (stem of constituēns, present participle of constituere “to set up, found, constitute),” equivalent to con- con- + -stitu- (combining form of statuere “to set up”) + -ent- -ent

Explanation

Constituent means "part of a whole." The word comes up often in political contexts: constituents are the people politicians have been elected to represent. Elected officials should stay in touch with the needs of their constituents. To understand constituent, look at constitute, which means "to make up." The words share the Latin root constituentem, meaning "to compose," as in a part that makes up a larger whole. A politician's electorate is made of individual constituent voters. Although it’s often used to refer to voters, you can also say that a car motor, for example, is made of constituent parts. Constituent can be a noun or adjective.

Example Sentences

Lake, who has campaigned for his constituent for the past two years, said the case was one of the clearest injustices he had come across in his nine years as an MP.

From BBC • Jul. 5, 2026

He also pledged to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution as Mr. Petro had tried do.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026

The team's other 25 members were born in the Netherlands, which counts Curacao as a constituent country.

From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026

These are just some of the reasons that Research Affiliates several years ago introduced a different way of constructing indices known as “fundamental indexes,” which don’t weight constituent stocks by market valuation.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 15, 2026

We advocated the creation of a multiparty negotiating conference to set up the interim government and set out the guiding principles for the functioning of a constituent assembly.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela