Noun

(en noun)

a part, or component of a whole

* Tyndall

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

The person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs.

* Sir M. Hale

Their first composure and origination require a higher and nobler constituent than chance.

A resident of a place represented by an elected official.

* Macaulay

To appeal from the representatives to the constituents .

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=April 19 , author=Josh Halliday , title=Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised? , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online.}}

(legal) One who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact.

(Burrill)

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

*

Thus, the postulation of a Noun Phrase'' constituent is justified on morphological grounds, since it is not obvious how we could describe the grammar of the genitive 's inflection in English without saying that it's a ''Noun Phrase inflection.

Noun

(uncountable) The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.

* 2005 , Lies Sercu and Ewa Bandura, Foreign Language Teachers and Intercultural Competence: An International Investigation :

Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence .

(countable) The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task.

* 1961 , National Council for Elementary Science (U.S.), Science Education :

What professional competences do science teachers need?

A sustainable income.

* Alexander Pope

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence .

* 1811 , Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility , chapter 17

“money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence , it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned.”

(countable) In law, the legal authority to deal with a matter.

That question is out with the competence of this court and must be taken to a higher court.