constitutive

adjective

con·​sti·​tu·​tive ˈkän(t)-stə-ˌtü-tiv 

-ˌtyü-;

kən-ˈsti-chə-tiv 

1

: having the power to enact or establish : constructive

2

: constituent, essential

3

: relating to or dependent on constitution

a constitutive property of all electrolytes

constitutively adverb

Synonyms

• built-in
• constitutional
• essential
• hardwired
• immanent
• inborn
• inbred
• indigenous
• ingrain
• ingrained
• engrained
• inherent
• innate
• integral
• intrinsic
• native
• natural

Examples of constitutive in a Sentence

the proposition that liberty and justice are constitutive elements of an enlightened society

Recent Examples on the Web

After his beginnings at Modern Collections, Philbrick delved into corrupt financial machinations, enabled and empowered by the secrecy and instability that are constitutive features of the contemporary-art market. —Rosa Lyster, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2024

That could require a new constitutive assembly, with a mission, charter, and political program that speaks to all Palestinians and eschews the stale language of the old PLO, a discourse imbued with the spirit of the mid-twentieth century but with no currency in the twenty-first. —Hussein Agha, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021

Serge’s simultaneous ambivalence about the status of the individual and sympathetic investment in individuals (and his keen eye for particulars) provides the constitutive tension of his best fiction. —Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 29 Dec. 2022

Neoliberals’ constitutive disenfranchisement of voters and all those without a foothold in the asset economy is very much still with us. —Aaron Timms, The New Republic, 31 Oct. 2022

But in Meacham’s treatment, such personal details function as supporting pieces in a story designed around high-stakes campaign speeches, the constitutive ritual of inaugurations and grave moments of statesmanship. —John Fabian Witt, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2022

And both suggest that the impulse to cheat, cut corners and get over on chumps, if not inflict harm upon them outright, is far from some aberrant pathology in the American identity but rather a constitutive force. —New York Times, 9 Feb. 2022

The argument that something like PTSD existed prior to industrialization must be sustained with evidence of symptoms constitutive of the modern definition. —Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 23 Nov. 2021

White supremacy has always been a constitutive piece of American national identity, but it cannot be openly claimed in a nation also founded on belief in democracy and freedom. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 11 Aug. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

constitutive

adjective

con·​sti·​tu·​tive ˈkän(t)-stə-ˌt(y)üt-iv  kən-ˈstich-ət-iv 

1

a

: of, relating to, or being an enzyme or protein produced in relatively constant amounts in all cells of an organism without regard to cell environmental conditions (as the concentration of a substrate) compare inducible sense a

b

: controlling production of or coding genetic information for a constitutive enzyme or protein

constitutive genes

constitutive mutations

2

: being chromatin of a chromosomal region that is condensed into heterochromatin in all cells of an organism rather than just some

constitutively adverb