constitute
Americanverb (used with object)
-
constitutes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
constituted,
past participle, past
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constituting
present participle
-
to compose; form.
mortar constituted of lime and sand.
-
to appoint to an office or function; make or create.
He was constituted treasurer.
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to establish (laws, an institution, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- commission, institute
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to give legal form to (an assembly, court, etc.).
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to create or be tantamount to.
Imports constitute a challenge to local goods.
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Archaic. to set or place.
verb
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to make up; form; compose
the people who constitute a jury
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to appoint to an office or function
a legally constituted officer
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to set up (a school or other institution) formally; found
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law to give legal form to (a court, assembly, etc)
-
obsolete law to set up or enact (a law)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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constituternoun
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constitutornoun
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preconstituteverb (used with object)
-
nonconstitutedadjective
-
self-constitutedadjective
-
self-constitutingadjective
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unconstitutedadjective
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well-constitutedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
constitutesimple
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constitutessimple
-
have constitutedperfect
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has constitutedperfect
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am constitutingprogressive
-
are constitutingprogressive
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is constitutingprogressive
-
have been constitutingperfect progressive
-
has been constitutingperfect progressive
Past
-
constitutedsimple
-
had constitutedperfect
-
was constitutingprogressive
-
were constitutingprogressive
-
had been constitutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of constitute
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin constitūtus, past participle of constituere “to set up, found”; see constituent
Explanation
To constitute is to make up a whole from smaller parts, or "constituents." "What constitutes a family?" means "What makes up a family?" Parents, kids, pets, and other family members constitute most people's idea of a family. The Constitution tells us what our country is all about and supposed to be made of — in other words, what constitutes the United States. This word can deal with the present or the future. The items listed in a recipe constitute what will be in a cake; later, the individual ingredients constitute the cake. Eleven players constitute a football team on the field. We can even say that abstract qualities are constituted. For example, some people think wearing sunglasses constitutes coolness. Since everything in the world is made up of other things, there's a lot of constituting going on.
Vocabulary lists containing constitute
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Whether the mine detonations constitute an armistice violation is less clear cut, said Shin Jong-woo, who served in South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff more than a decade ago when another land-mine incident occurred.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Yormark believes a positive experience for fans and players would constitute success, plus an exciting game.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Indeed, a White House official told ProPublica that Dans’ consulting work did not constitute a conflict of interest for that very reason.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
He did not, however, say what would constitute “soon.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Collectively, the Bantu languages constitute only a single, low-order subfamily of the Niger-Congo language family.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
What constitutes marketing engineering is in the eye of employers and workers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
But there's a debate over what constitutes the best, and safest, sodium ion battery design.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
"The tool may pick up something particular in the writing, something repetitive, but that might be exactly what constitutes a writer's style," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
In 2025 — after Walker’s death — the state passed a law meant to clarify what constitutes a risk of death.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
Our unifying topics, number and probability, do, however, pro vide the basis for statistics, which, together with logic, constitutes the foundation of the scientific method, which will eventually sort matters out if anything can.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
The chair umpire then conducted a video review of what happened, and ruled that the flickering ad constituted a “hindrance” outside of the control of the players, like some paper getting blown onto the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
In a classic study she began as a Harvard undergraduate, hotel housekeepers were told—accurately—that their daily work already constituted meaningful exercise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said attacks on Mecca and Medina province, where Islam's second holiest shrine is located, constituted an "unacceptable and intolerable transgression".
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
The person working with Regan who sent the offer denied to the law firm that the conversation constituted extortion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
That day, Bunderson filed a handful of motions, the sum of which constituted the essential pieces of his case.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Prosecutors contend that the Paramount deal would reach and, in some cases, exceed established thresholds, constituting violations of the century-old Clayton Antitrust Act that was adopted to protect markets and consumers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The prosecutor general said Kozyura had agreed to share information "constituting state secrets" for financial reward and deserved the harshest punishment.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
It found Kim guilty of manipulating the share price of Deutsch Motors, a South Korean car dealer, which it ruled a "collusive... trading act constituting market manipulation".
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
According to McKinsey & Co., the total quantum industry — computing, communications and sensing — could grow into a $97 billion market by 2035, with quantum computing constituting the lion’s share.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025
A total of 241 signs or letters was neatly divided by etched vertical lines into groups of several signs, possibly constituting words.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
