constitutive
[kon-sti-too-tiv, -tyoo-]
- constituent; making a thing what it is; essential.
- having power to establish or enact.
- Physics, Chemistry. pertaining to a molecular property determined primarily by the arrangement of atoms in the molecule rather than by their nature or number.
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Origin of constitutive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for constitutive
Contemporary Examples
Meanwhile, vulnerability, risk, unpredictability, and sudden transformation are the constitutive experiences of human life.
Historical Examples
They are constitutive of non-linear forms of complementarity.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
If the former, then christianity hath its constitutive parts, by which it is what it is.
A Christian DirectoryBaxter Richard
If so, should not the pars regens which is constitutive have been put in?
A Christian DirectoryBaxter Richard
Though not constitutive, yet are they regulative principles.
A History of Philosophy in EpitomeAlbert Schwegler
But is it not the electrical relatedness that is constitutive of the atom as such?
Spencer's Philosophy of ScienceC. Lloyd Morgan
constitutive
- having power to enact, appoint, or establish
- chem (of a physical property) determined by the arrangement of atoms in a molecule rather than by their nature
- biochem (of an enzyme) formed continuously, irrespective of the cell's needs
- another word for constituent (def. 1)
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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 constitutive
adj.
c.1600, "having the power of establishing," also "elemental, essential," from Medieval Latin *constitutivus, from constitut-, past participle stem of constituere (see constitute). Related: Constitutively.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper