component

[ kuh m-poh-nuh nt, kom- ]
/ kəmˈpoʊ nənt, kɒm- /

noun

adjective

being or serving as an element (in something larger); composing; constituent: the component parts of a computer system.

Origin of component

1555–65; < Latin compōnent- (stem of compōnēns, present participle of compōnere to put together), equivalent to com- com- + pōn(ere) to put + -ent- -ent

OTHER WORDS FROM component

com·po·nen·tial [kom-puh-nen-shuh l] /ˌkɒm pəˈnɛn ʃəl/, com·po·nen·tal, adjective com·po·nent·ed, adjective sub·com·po·nent, noun

Example sentences from the Web for component

British Dictionary definitions for component

component
/ (kəmˈpəʊnənt) /

noun

a constituent part or aspect of something more complex a component of a car
Also called: element any electrical device, such as a resistor, that has distinct electrical characteristics and that may be connected to other electrical devices to form a circuit
maths
  1. one of a set of two or more vectors whose resultant is a given vector
  2. the projection of this given vector onto a specified line
one of the minimum number of chemically distinct constituents necessary to describe fully the composition of each phase in a system See phase rule

adjective

forming or functioning as a part or aspect; constituent

Derived forms of component

componential (ˌkɒmpəˈnɛnʃəl), adjective

Word Origin for component

C17: from Latin compōnere to put together, from pōnere to place, put