What does “constitute” mean?
- 1
verbto be or be considered as something
This decision constitutes a serious threat to free speech.
- 2
verbto form or make up the parts of a whole
Women constitute over half of the workforce.
Constitute at a glance
- Part of speech
- verb
- CEFR level
- C1 (advanced)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈkɑnstəˌtut/ · KON-stuh-toot
How to use “constitute” correctly
Very formal and common in law and academic writing. It is not used in the continuous form: say “constitutes”, not “is constituting”.
Common phrases with “constitute”
- constitute a threat
- constitute a breach
- constitute a majority
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- constitution
- constituent
- constitutional
“constitute” is on these word lists
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