Constitute

How to spell constitute

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce constitute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does constitute mean?

1. verbTo be the parts or elements that together form a whole, or to amount to something.
2. verbTo formally set up, appoint, or give legal form to a body or office.

Constitute in a sentence

• Twelve members constitute a full committee under the rules.

• The charter will constitute a new board to oversee the trust.

• Failing to report the income could constitute a serious offence.

• Parliament moved to constitute an independent inquiry into the matter.

Where does constitute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin constituere, meaning 'to set up', 'to establish', or 'to fix in place'. It was formed from the prefix con-, here acting as an intensive sense of 'together', and the verb statuere, which meant 'to set up' or 'to cause to stand', itself rooted in status, the idea of standing or condition. The same statuere root sits behind a large family of English words, including statute, institute, substitute, and destitute, all sharing that core notion of placing or standing something firmly. English took the word up in the fifteenth century, partly through Old French, with the meaning of formally setting up or appointing, and the modern sense of 'to make up' or 'to amount to' grew naturally from that idea of forming a fixed whole. The spelling reward is in the parts: keeping con + stit + ute clearly in mind stops writers from dropping the middle 't' or muddling the ending.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• -stitut- (from Latin statuere: to set up, establish)
• -e