immediate constituent

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

immediate constituent

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of immediate constituent¹

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.

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

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

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His immediate constituents were with him in feeling and action.

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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.

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