ultimate constituent

American  

noun

Grammar.

1. an element of a construction that cannot be further divided into grammatical constituents: the morphemes of an utterance are usually considered to be its ultimate constituents.

---

ultimate constituent British  

noun

1. a constituent of something, such as a linguistic construction, that cannot be further subdivided in the terms of the analysis being undertaken Compare immediate constituent

---

Example Sentences

Somewhere in the depths of space, he believed, helium, oxygen, silicon and iron were being formed from the ultimate constituent of all matter, the electron.

From Time Magazine Archive

A Russian chemist, Mendeleeff, drew up a table of the elements in illustration of this, grouping them in families, which seemed to point to hydrogen as the common parent, or ultimate constituent, of each.

From The Story of Evolution by McCabe, Joseph

The cell is the ultimate constituent in the formation and in the life of tissue, fibre, tendon, bone, muscle, brain, nerve system, vital organ.

From The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit by Trine, Ralph Waldo

The ultimate constituent of matter has been called the atom.

From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis

Biophore: an ultimate constituent of germ plasm or hereditary substance.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.