Constitutive
adjective
Something that is a necessary part or forms the essential core.
The constitutive elements of a chemical compound.

Often appears as...
- constitutive genes
- constitutive elements
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Related to creation or formation of something.
Constitutive processes in social systems.

Often appears as...
- constitutive equations
- constitutive law
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
adjective
In genetics, refers to genes that are always turned on or expressed.
A constitutive gene is not regulated and is always expressed.

Often appears as...
- constitutive proteins
- constitutive expression
Usage tips
Technical
adjective
Something that is a necessary part or forms the essential core.
The constitutive elements of a chemical compound.

Often appears as...
- constitutive genes
- constitutive elements
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Related to creation or formation of something.
Constitutive processes in social systems.

Often appears as...
- constitutive equations
- constitutive law
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
adjective
In genetics, refers to genes that are always turned on or expressed.
A constitutive gene is not regulated and is always expressed.

Often appears as...
- constitutive proteins
- constitutive expression
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 3

Core Importance
Used to emphasize that something is absolutely necessary for the existence or functioning of something else.

Democracy is constitutive of a free society.
Not Optional
Indicates that elements are not just any part, but crucial ones that create the essence of the whole.

Trust is a constitutive component of a strong relationship.
Core Importance
Used to emphasize that something is absolutely necessary for the existence or functioning of something else.

Democracy is constitutive of a free society.
Not Optional
Indicates that elements are not just any part, but crucial ones that create the essence of the whole.

Trust is a constitutive component of a strong relationship.
Core Importance
Used to emphasize that something is absolutely necessary for the existence or functioning of something else.

Democracy is constitutive of a free society.
Not Optional
Indicates that elements are not just any part, but crucial ones that create the essence of the whole.

Trust is a constitutive component of a strong relationship.
Quote examples
Bernard Williams
English Philosopher
Disagreement does not necessarily have to be overcome. It may remain an important and constitutive feature of our relations to others and also be seen as something that is merely to be expected in the light of the best explanations we have of how such disagreement arises.

Quote examples
Stanley Hauerwas
American Theologian
Christians are nonviolent not, therefore, because we believe that nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but because nonviolence is constitutive of what it means to be a disciple to Jesus.

Quote examples
Stanley Hauerwas
American Theologian
One of the challenges Christians confront is how the politics we helped create has made it difficult to sustain the material practices constitutive of an ecclesial culture to produce Christians.

Quote examples
Michel Foucault
French Historian
Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art.

Quote examples
Bernard Williams
English Philosopher
Disagreement does not necessarily have to be overcome. It may remain an important and constitutive feature of our relations to others and also be seen as something that is merely to be expected in the light of the best explanations we have of how such disagreement arises.

Quote examples
Stanley Hauerwas
American Theologian
Christians are nonviolent not, therefore, because we believe that nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but because nonviolence is constitutive of what it means to be a disciple to Jesus.

Quote examples
Stanley Hauerwas
American Theologian
One of the challenges Christians confront is how the politics we helped create has made it difficult to sustain the material practices constitutive of an ecclesial culture to produce Christians.

Quote examples
Michel Foucault
French Historian
Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art.

Example 1 of 4
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