component

[ kuhm-poh-nuhnt, kom- ]

noun

1. a constituent part; element; ingredient.
2. a part of a mechanical or electrical system:

   They checked the pads, rotors, and other components of my car's brake system.

3. Physics. the projection of a vector quantity, as force or velocity, along an axis.
4. Physical Chemistry. one of the set of the minimum number of chemical constituents by which every phase of a given system can be described.
5. Mathematics.
   1. a connected subset of a set, not contained in any other connected subset of the set.
   2. a coordinate of a vector.
6. Linguistics.
   1. one of the major subdivisions of a generative grammar: Compare level ( def 17 ).

      base component;

      transformational component;

      semantic component;

      phonological component.

   2. a feature determined by componential analysis.

adjective

1. being or serving as an element (in something larger); composing; constituent:

   the component parts of a computer system.

component

/ kəmˈpəʊnənt; ˌkɒmpəˈnɛnʃəl /

noun

1. a constituent part or aspect of something more complex

   a component of a car

2. Also calledelement 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
3. 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
4. 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

1. forming or functioning as a part or aspect; constituent

Derived Forms

• componential, adjective

Other Words From

• com·po·nen·tial [kom-p, uh, -, nen, -sh, uh, l], compo·nental adjective
• com·ponent·ed adjective
• subcom·ponent noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of component¹

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin compōnent- (stem of compōnēns, present participle of compōnere “to put together”), equivalent to com- com- + pōn(ere) “to put” + -ent- -ent

Word History and Origins

Origin of component¹

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

Synonym Study

See element.

Example Sentences

Both of these components have to work well in order for the system to be efficient, but efforts to optimize them have focused more on the PV cell.

From Science Daily

Recently, the firm has worked with UK-based Teer Coatings to test a product that could be applied to satellite components including gears and bearings used in various moving parts.

From BBC

"This allowed us to make predictions about how particular components of the brain, such as specific connectivity patterns, contribute to observations about cortical processing made by our experimental colleagues," explains lead researcher Dr. James Isbister.

From Science Daily

The team attached a component to this peptide that promotes its uptake into tumor cells.

From Science Daily

This is because nearly 25% of the components in a tire are made of synthetic rubber, which is a plastic.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• factor
• ingredient
• item
• peripheral
• piece
• segment
• unit