immediate constituent

American  

noun

Grammar.

1. one of the usually two largest constituents of a construction: The immediate constituents of He ate his dinner are he and ate his dinner; of ate his dinner are ate and his dinner; etc. IC

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immediate constituent British  

noun

1. a constituent of a linguistic construction at the first step in an analysis; for example, the immediate constituents of a sentence are the subject and the predicate

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Etymology

Origin of immediate constituent

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Some opponents question whether resources would be better directed toward immediate constituent needs such as healthcare, housing, and living costs.

From Los Angeles Times

An investigation by Public Citizen concluded that the vast majority of spending between 2012 and 2018 did not benefit “immediate constituent needs.”

From Washington Post

Gray spent the largest portion of his fund — 72 percent — on “immediate constituent needs” from 2012 through 2018, Public Citizen found.

From Washington Post

His immediate constituents were with him in feeling and action.

From Project Gutenberg

Compound radicals came to be regarded as the immediate constituents of organic compounds; and, at first, a determination of their empirical composition was supposed to be sufficient to characterize them.

From Project Gutenberg