constitute
verb
con·sti·tute
| \ ˈkän(t)-stə-ˌtüt
, -ˌtyüt\
, -ˌtyüt\
constituted;
constituting
Definition of constitute
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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
The changes, first mooted in May 2018, simplify the legal definitions of what constitutes proprietary trading, where banks use their own money to invest. — The Economist, "Business this week," 22 Aug. 2019 The content of this page is for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute formal medical advice. — Harper's BAZAAR, "What Are Cheek Fillers? Experts Explain," 22 Aug. 2019 But the acquisition of Greenland, the largest island in the world, would dramatically upend our view of what constitutes the United States. — Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, "The acquisition of Greenland would trump the Louisiana Purchase," 16 Aug. 2019 Both of those squeaked past their budget at the worldwide box office, but neither constituted a significant hit for the studio. — Isaac Feldberg, Fortune, "Is Annapurna on the Edge of Bankruptcy?," 8 Aug. 2019 Defense lawyer Jeremy Kroll asked Broward County Judge Jill Levy to combine the charges, arguing that the head pushes and the punch constitute one act, not two. — Rafael Olmeda, sun-sentinel.com, "Deputy in teen beating case goes to court," 29 July 2019 But the placement of malicious code inside both systems revives the question of whether a nation’s power grid — or other critical infrastructure that keeps homes, factories, and hospitals running — constitutes a legitimate target for online attack. — David E. Sanger, New York Times, "U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid," 15 June 2019 This isn’t so much a battle for the soul of Broadway as proof that the definition of what constitutes a Broadway show continues to expand. — Adam Green, Vogue, "Takeaways From the 2019 Tony Nominations: Downtown Comes to Broadway," 30 Apr. 2019 Other studies have found that 10% to 46% of police shootings involved suicide by cop attempts — though the definition of what constitutes a suicide by cop is controversial. — Anita Chabriastaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, "Police fear ‘suicide by cop’ cases. So they’ve stopped responding to some calls," 10 Aug. 2019These 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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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\
, -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
3a
: to put (as an agreement) into required form
b
: to qualify as
a letter can constitute a will— W. M. McGovern, Jr. et al. failure to act may constitute negligence
c
: to form the substance or whole of
the bonds constituted the entire estate
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