constitute

verb

con·sti·tute | \ ˈkän(t)-stə-ˌtüt

, -ˌtyüt\

constituted; constituting

Definition of constitute

1 : make up, form, compose 12 months constitute a year. … high school dropouts who constitute a major problem in large city slums.— J. B. Conant

2 : set up, establish: such as

a : enact regulations as are constituted by the government

b : found constitute a provisional government

c(1) : to give due or lawful form to an agreement constituted by writing

(2) : to legally process

3 : to appoint to an office, function, or dignity Legal authority constitutes all magistrates.

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Examples of constitute in a Sentence

Women constitute 70 percent of the student population at the college. nine players constitute a baseball team

Recent Examples on the Web

In the past, investors watched reserve replacement closely as a measure of growth potential, and regulators maintain strict accounting rules about what constitutes proven reserves. — Bradley Olson, WSJ, "Big Oil Is Now Thrifty—but That Comes at a Cost," 13 Nov. 2018 The Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a trade association for drug distributors, told the Senate committee that the DEA had not provided clear enough information about what constituted a suspicious order to get consistent reporting across companies. — Andy Marso, kansascity, "As opioids poured into Missouri, the DEA failed, McCaskill says," 12 July 2018 The Kings are also said to be high on Michael Porter, who may still constitute a reach at this spot. 3. — Jeremy Woo, SI.com, "2018 NBA Mock Draft 8.0: What Happens if the Kings Pass on Luka Doncic?," 5 June 2018 Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 5/25/18) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 5/25/18). — Korin Miller, SELF, "What You Need to Know About Glucose Testing During Pregnancy," 4 Feb. 2019 However, this mission would be best served by consolidating only space system defense functions, which constitute a minority of military space operations. — Bryan Nakayama, Fortune, "3 Reasons Trump’s New Space Force Would Be a Disaster," 21 June 2018 Chicago is expected to swelter in the bull's eye of the hot weather, with at least three days of high temperatures through Monday, which constitute a heat wave. — Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY, "Dangerous mass of hot, humid air triggers heat advisories in Midwest, targets East," 16 June 2018 His ambition has put Mohammed in conflict with a powerful Salafist network, which constitutes the most coherent political force outside of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, analysts say. — Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, "Once-powerful Saudi conservatives losing clout," 5 June 2018 The prospective €90m fee, which would constitute a world record deal for a goalkeeper, may be less of an issue for Real Madrid. — SI.com, "Report: Roma Puts World-Record Price Tag for GK on Alisson to Deter Suitors," 30 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'constitute.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near constitute

constituent structure

constitutional formula

Statistics for constitute

Last Updated

12 Mar 2019

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Time Traveler for constitute

The first known use of constitute was in the 15th century

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More Definitions for constitute

constitute

verb

English Language Learners Definition of constitute

formal

: to make up or form something

: to be the same as something : to be equivalent to something

: to establish or create (an organization, a government, etc.)

See the full definition for constitute in the English Language Learners Dictionary

constitute

verb

con·sti·tute | \ ˈkän-stə-ˌtüt

, -ˌtyüt\

constituted; constituting

Kids Definition of constitute

1 : to form the whole of Twelve months constitute a year.

2 : to establish or create constitute a new government

constitute

transitive verb

con·sti·tute | \ ˈkän-stə-ˌtüt, -ˌtyüt

Legal Definition of constitute

1 : to appoint to an office or function those who are constituted heirs or named legatees — Louisiana Civil Code legal authority constitutes all magistrates