CONSTITUTION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Constitution mean? 

• CONSTITUTION (noun)
  The noun CONSTITUTION has 5 senses:

1. law determining the fundamental political principles of a government

2. the act of forming or establishing something

3. the constitution written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states

4. the way in which someone or something is composed

5. a United States 44-gun frigate that was one of the first three naval ships built by the United States; it won brilliant victories over British frigates during the War of 1812 and is without doubt the most famous ship in the history of the United States Navy; it has been rebuilt and is anchored in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston

  Familiarity information: CONSTITUTION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSTITUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Law determining the fundamental political principles of a government

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

constitution; fundamental law; organic law

Hypernyms ("constitution" is a kind of...):

law (legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Instance hyponyms:

Constitution; Constitution of the United States; U.S. Constitution; United States Constitution; US Constitution (the constitution written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states)

Derivation:

constitutionalize (provide with a constitution, as of a country)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of forming or establishing something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

constitution; establishment; formation; organisation; organization

Context example:

he still remembers the organization of the club

Hypernyms ("constitution" is a kind of...):

beginning; commencement; start (the act of starting something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "constitution"):

unionisation; unionization (act of forming labor unions)

collectivisation; collectivization (the organization of a nation or economy on the basis of collectivism)

communisation; communization (the organization of a nation of the basis of communism)

federation (the act of constituting a political unity out of a number of separate states or colonies or provinces so that each member retains the management of its internal affairs)

colonisation; colonization; settlement (the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies)

Derivation:

constitute (set up or lay the groundwork for)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The constitution written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Constitution; Constitution of the United States; U.S. Constitution; United States Constitution; US Constitution

Instance hypernyms:

constitution; fundamental law; organic law (law determining the fundamental political principles of a government)

Meronyms (parts of "Constitution"):

advice and consent (a legal expression in the United States Constitution that allows the Senate to constrain the President's powers of appointment and treaty-making)

Bill of Rights (a statement of fundamental rights and privileges (especially the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution))

Fourteenth Amendment (an amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1868; extends the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to the states as well as to the federal government)

Eighteenth Amendment (an amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1920; prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages; repealed in 1932)

Nineteenth Amendment (an amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1920; guarantees that no state can deny the right to vote on the basis of sex)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The way in which someone or something is composed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

composition; constitution; make-up; makeup; physical composition

Hypernyms ("constitution" is a kind of...):

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "constitution"):

structure (the manner of construction of something and the arrangement of its parts)

phenotype (what an organism looks like as a consequence of the interaction of its genotype and the environment)

genetic constitution; genotype (the particular alleles at specified loci present in an organism)

grain; texture (the physical composition of something (especially with respect to the size and shape of the small constituents of a substance))

karyotype (the appearance of the chromosomal makeup of a somatic cell in an individual or species (including the number and arrangement and size and structure of the chromosomes))

Derivation:

constitute (to compose or represent)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A United States 44-gun frigate that was one of the first three naval ships built by the United States; it won brilliant victories over British frigates during the War of 1812 and is without doubt the most famous ship in the history of the United States Navy; it has been rebuilt and is anchored in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

Constitution; Old Ironsides

Instance hypernyms:

sailing warship (a warship that was powered by sails and equipped with many heavy guns; not built after the middle of the 19th century)

 Context examples 

He was double my mother's age when he married, and of but a delicate constitution.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Clinical conditions caused by an abnormal chromosome constitution in which there is extra or missing chromosome material (either a whole chromosome or a chromosome segment).

(Chromosome Disorder, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

According to this type of medicine, the constitution is the specific way a person’s organs affect health and how he or she looks, thinks, behaves, and responds to treatment.

(Constitutional acupuncture, NCI Dictionary)

"Thank you, I will. Come Amy." and Jo brought the visit to an end, feeling more strongly than ever that calls did have a bad effect upon her constitution.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The tendency of something to act in a certain manner under given circumstances resulting from natural constitution; nature; quality; orderly arrangement.

(Disposition, NCI Thesaurus)

There, and in your stomach, lies the secret of your remarkable constitution.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The occurrence in an individual of two or more cell populations of different chromosomal constitutions, derived from different individuals.

(Chimerism, NCI Thesaurus)

The chromosomal constitution of cells which deviate from the normal by the addition or subtraction of chromosomes or chromosome pairs.

(Aneuploidy, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

I had formerly, upon occasion, discoursed with my master upon the nature of government in general, and particularly of our own excellent constitution, deservedly the wonder and envy of the whole world.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Here it is,” said he, “written with a J pen on royal cream paper by a middle-aged man with a weak constitution.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)