constitution

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of forming or establishing something

   the constitution of a PTA group last year

2. 2
   noun

   The act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup.

   the physical constitution of the sun

3. 3
   noun

   The formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institutions.

   1693, Edmund Bohun, A Geographical Dictionary They have in their present Constitution a Grand Council of the Nobility, a Senato, a College of Twenty six who give Audience to Ambassadors and report their Demands to the Senate, a Council of Ten; and a Triumvirate (monthly chosen by, and out of, the Ten) of three Inquisitors of State; whose Authority is so absolute, as to extend to the taking away of the Life of the Doge no less than the meanest Artisan, without acquainting the Senate, provided they all three agree in the Sentence.

4. 4
   noun

   A person's physical makeup or temperament, especially in respect of robustness.

   He has a strong constitution, so he should make a quick recovery from the illness.

5. 5
   noun

   The general health of a person.

   But when once his constitution began to decline, he broke very fast, and being attacked bya complication of diseases, he at length gave way to fate, May 10, 1733.

6. 6
   name

   The supreme law of some countries, such as Australia, Ireland, and the United States.

   The Constitution is anchored in English liberal thought and the Magna Carta.

7. 7
   noun

   the way in which someone or something is composed

8. 8
   noun

   law determining the fundamental political principles of a government

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constitucioun, constitucion (“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem (“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō (“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”). Equivalent to constitute + -ion.