Constitution

How to spell constitution

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce constitution

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does constitution mean?

1. nounThe fundamental body of principles or document according to which a state or organisation is governed.
2. nounA person's general physical state, especially their strength and ability to resist illness.
3. nounThe way in which something is composed or made up.

Constitution in a sentence

• The lawyers argued that the new policy violated the constitution.

• Years of hard labour had given him a robust constitution.

• The chemist studied the constitution of the soil sample.

• Members voted to amend the club constitution at the annual meeting.

• The doctor warned that her fragile constitution made surgery risky.

• The report examined the constitution of the committee and its membership.

Where does constitution come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin constitutio, a noun meaning 'an arrangement, an established order, or a regulation', which was built on the verb constituere, 'to set up' or 'to establish firmly'. That verb joins the prefix con-, 'together', with statuere, 'to set or place', which itself comes from stare, 'to stand'; so at its root the word carries the idea of standing something firmly in place. English took it in through Old French during the 1300s, at first meaning a decree or an established practice, and later the make-up or physical condition of a person. The familiar political sense, the fundamental document or set of principles by which a state is governed, grew through the 1600s and 1700s and became central to the founding of the United States. The same statuere root sits inside relatives such as 'statute', 'institute', and 'substitute', and the buried 'stit' explains the tricky middle of the spelling.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• statu/stit (from statuere: to set up, establish)
• -tion (noun of action/result)