Composition

How to spell composition

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce composition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does composition mean?

1. nounA piece of written, musical or artistic work that someone creates.
2. nounThe combination of parts or ingredients that make up something.
3. nounThe way the elements of a picture or photograph are arranged.

Composition in a sentence

• The orchestra performed a new composition by a local composer.

• The lab analysed the chemical composition of the water sample.

• The photographer adjusted the composition before taking the shot.

• Her short story was the finest composition in the whole anthology.

• The report examined the age composition of the town's population.

• The balanced composition of the painting drew the eye to the centre.

Where does composition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin compositio, meaning 'a putting together' or 'an arrangement', which was built from the verb componere, 'to put together'. That verb joins com-, 'together', with ponere, 'to place or put', so at root a composition is literally things placed together into a whole. English took it in during the late 1300s by way of Old French composicion, first for the act of arranging or combining and soon for the written or musical work that resulted. The same ponere root sits inside a large family of English words, including compose, deposit, position and component, which can help fix the single p and the s spelling. The -sit- in the middle, from the Latin past participle positus, is the part to watch: it is spelled with an s, not the z sound it makes.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• pos (from Latin ponere/positus: to place, put)
• -ition (noun-forming suffix)