constitute
Americanverb (used with object)
-
constitutes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
constituted,
past participle, past
-
constituting
present participle
-
to compose; form.
mortar constituted of lime and sand.
-
to appoint to an office or function; make or create.
He was constituted treasurer.
-
to establish (laws, an institution, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- commission, institute
-
to give legal form to (an assembly, court, etc.).
-
to create or be tantamount to.
Imports constitute a challenge to local goods.
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Archaic. to set or place.
verb
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to make up; form; compose
the people who constitute a jury
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to appoint to an office or function
a legally constituted officer
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to set up (a school or other institution) formally; found
-
law to give legal form to (a court, assembly, etc)
-
obsolete law to set up or enact (a law)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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constituternoun
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constitutornoun
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preconstituteverb (used with object)
-
nonconstitutedadjective
-
self-constitutedadjective
-
self-constitutingadjective
-
unconstitutedadjective
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well-constitutedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
constitutesimple
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constitutessimple
-
have constitutedperfect
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has constitutedperfect
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am constitutingprogressive
-
are constitutingprogressive
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is constitutingprogressive
-
have been constitutingperfect progressive
-
has been constitutingperfect progressive
Past
-
constitutedsimple
-
had constitutedperfect
-
was constitutingprogressive
-
were constitutingprogressive
-
had been constitutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of constitute
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin constitūtus, past participle of constituere “to set up, found”; see constituent
Explanation
To constitute is to make up a whole from smaller parts, or "constituents." "What constitutes a family?" means "What makes up a family?" Parents, kids, pets, and other family members constitute most people's idea of a family. The Constitution tells us what our country is all about and supposed to be made of — in other words, what constitutes the United States. This word can deal with the present or the future. The items listed in a recipe constitute what will be in a cake; later, the individual ingredients constitute the cake. Eleven players constitute a football team on the field. We can even say that abstract qualities are constituted. For example, some people think wearing sunglasses constitutes coolness. Since everything in the world is made up of other things, there's a lot of constituting going on.
Vocabulary lists containing constitute
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He said those protections did not constitute institutional endorsement of every speaker’s views.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Running a business, either directly or indirectly, would breach the terms of Hall's bankruptcy order and constitute a criminal offence.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Indeed, a White House official told ProPublica that Dans’ consulting work did not constitute a conflict of interest for that very reason.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
In total, subsidies from Denmark and the EU constitute nearly half of Greenland’s budget.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
They were forced to obey him out of fear, and to constitute a government of which he made himself prince.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
The reason such strength constitutes a bubble warning is that investors have to be particularly exuberant in order to bid growth stocks higher in the wake of rising interest rates.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
In 2025 — after Walker’s death — the state passed a law meant to clarify what constitutes a risk of death.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
Bessent's plan constitutes a "forced effort that's too obvious," O'Hare said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Budapest's promise of pragmatic co-operation was worth absolutely nothing, he complained, adding that Hungary's "extremely unfriendly step constitutes an unprecedented and ungrounded escalation".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
It is illegal to subject pretrial detainees like Walter and Myers to confinement that constitutes punishment.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said attacks on Mecca and Medina province, where Islam's second holiest shrine is located, constituted an "unacceptable and intolerable transgression".
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
To his new coach, the spectacular move constituted a cardinal sin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
A Greenlandic commission is to present a highly anticipated report Friday to determine whether Denmark's forced contraception of thousands of the Arctic island's indigenous Inuit constituted a "genocide".
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
After receiving complaints, Santa Monica in November ordered Waymo to stop operating the stations overnight, arguing that the sounds and lights violated municipal regulations and constituted a public nuisance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The two women and three men constituted the governing body that had been established after the fall of the gods.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
It found Kim guilty of manipulating the share price of Deutsch Motors, a South Korean car dealer, which it ruled a "collusive... trading act constituting market manipulation".
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
According to McKinsey & Co., the total quantum industry — computing, communications and sensing — could grow into a $97 billion market by 2035, with quantum computing constituting the lion’s share.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025
Public health experts have gone so far as to describe social isolation and loneliness as constituting a public health crisis in the United States.
From Salon ● Apr. 14, 2025
KP.3.1.1 is now the single most common coronavirus strain circulating nationwide, constituting an estimated 36.8% of specimens for the two-week period that ended Saturday, up from 12.7% a month ago, CDC data show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2024
A total of 241 signs or letters was neatly divided by etched vertical lines into groups of several signs, possibly constituting words.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
