Definition
nounThe act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup.
nounThe formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institutions.
Sentence Examples
The students were required to learn the Constitution by heart.
We must preserve our peaceful constitution.
Your right to vote under the constitution
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"the physical constitution of the sun"
— 1876, John Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy:
"Our constitution had begun to exist in times when statesmen were not much accustomed to frame exact definitions."
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
"After all, that would be akin to a self-coup. Apart from the traditional vision of a coup requiring a military takeover of the government, self-coups occur when governments depart from typical norms of democracy by altering election laws, calling into question election results or seeking to suspend their constitutions in order to stay in power."
— 2022 January 19, Robert Alexander, “What 2020’s pro-Trump phony electors means for 2024”, in CNN, archived from the original on 16 Aug 2022:
"Our constitutions have never been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the old world."
— 1828, Joseph Story, Appeal to the Republic:
"He defended himself with [...] less passion than was expected from his constitution."
— 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater: