different between department vs constituent

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French département.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??p??tm(?)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??p??tm?nt/
• Hyphenation: de?part?ment

Noun

department (plural departments)

1. A part, portion, or subdivision.
2. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
3. A specified aspect or quality.

   The 2012 Boston Marathon was outstanding in the temperature department; runners endured temperatures of no less than 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. A subdivision of an organization.
   1. (often in proper names) One of the principal divisions of executive government

      the Treasury Department; the Department of Agriculture; police department

   2. (in a university) One of the divisions of instructions

      the physics department; the gender studies department

5. A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts into which the country is divided for governmental purposes, similar to a county in the UK and in the USA. France is composed of 101 départements organized in 18 régions, each department is divided into arrondissements, in turn divided into cantons.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to the 1715-99, Penguin 2003, p. 427:

     The departments were the bricks from which the edifice of the nation was to be constructed.

6. (historical) A military subdivision of a country

7. (obsolete) Act of departing; departure.
   • 1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture

     sudden 'departments from one extreame to another

Synonyms

• (distinct course): province, specialty
• (division of executive government): ministry

Derived terms

• departmental
• departmentally
• Department of Redundancy Department
• department store
• fire department
• interdepartmental
• police department
• state department
• trouser department

Translations

See also

• province
• state

English

Etymology

From Latin c?nstitu?ns, present participle of c?nstitu? (“I establish”), from com- (“together”) + statuo (“I set, place, establish”); see statute or statue, and compare institute and restitute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?st?tju?nt/, /k?n?st?t?u?nt/

Adjective

constituent (not comparable)

1. being a part, or component of a whole
   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), Observations on the Art of Painting by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy

     Body, soul, and reason are the three parts necessarily constituent of a man.

2. authorized to make a constitution
   • 1769, Junius, letter on 19 December, 1769, (part of Letters of Junius)

     A question of right arises between the constituent and representative body.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

constituent (plural constituents)

1. A part, or component of a whole
   • 1865, John Tyndall, The Constitution of the Universe (1869), page 11

     We know how to bring these constituents together, and to cause them to form water.

2. A person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs
   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature

     whose first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler Constituent than either Chance or the ordinary method of meer Natural causes.

3. A resident of an area represented by an elected official, particularly in relation to that official.
4. A voter who supports a [political] candidate; a supporter of a cause.
5. (law) One who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

6. (grammar) A functional element of a phrase or clause

Translations

See also

• Constituent (linguistics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• constituent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• constituent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin constituens.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kons.ti.tu?ent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kuns.ti.tu?en/

Adjective

constituent (masculine and feminine plural constituents)

1. constituent (being a part of a whole)

Related terms

• constituir

Further reading

• “constituent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??s.ti.ty/

Verb

constituent

1. third-person plural present/subjunctive of constituer

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kon?sti.tu.ent/, [kõ??s?t??t?u?n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kon?sti.tu.ent/, [k?n?st?i?t?u?n?t?]

Verb

c?nstituent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of c?nstitu?

Romanian

Etymology

From French constituant

Noun

constituent n (plural constituen?i)

1. constituent

Declension