construct
Other forms: constructed; constructing; constructs
To construct things is to build them. You might construct a sand castle the next time you're at the beach, or you might construct a theory about why your brother always manages to get away with breaking the rules.
The verb construct comes from the Latin word constructus, meaning “to heap up.” If you work in construction you're in the business of building things, and you probably construct buildings, roads, municipal parks, and other large permanent structures. Students of psychology are familiar with the noun form of construct, which refers to an abstract concept. Much of psychological theory is founded on constructs — like gender, morality, and intelligence.
Definitions of construct (/kənˈstrʌkt/)
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make by combining materials and partsbuildbe engaged in buildingtypes:revetconstruct a revetmentdry-wallconstruct with drywalllockbuild locks in order to facilitate the navigation of vesselswattlebuild of or with wattlegroinbuild with groinscantileverconstruct with girders and beams such that only one end is fixedcorduroybuild (a road) from logs laid side by side
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put together out of artificial or natural components or partssynonyms: fabricate, manufacturetype of:makemake by shaping or bringing together constituents
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draw with suitable instruments and under specified conditions
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create by organizing and linking ideas, arguments, or concepts
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reassemble mentallysynonyms: reconstruct, retracetypes:type of:conjecture, hypothecate, hypothesise, hypothesize, speculate, suppose, theorise, theorizebelieve especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
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create by linking linguistic units
Definitions of construct (/ˈkɒnstrʌkt/)
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an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instancessynonyms: concept, conceptiontypes:notiona general inclusive conceptcategorya general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual schemequantitythe concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variabledivision, part, sectionone of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a wholewholeall of something including all its component elements or partslaw, natural lawa rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human societylexicalized concepta concept that is expressed by a word (in some particular language)hypothesis, possibility, theorya tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomenafacta concept whose truth can be provedframeone of the ten divisions into which bowling is dividedrightan abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or natureperceptiona way of conceiving somethingmumpsimusa traditional notion that is obstinately held although it is unreasonableform, kind, sort, varietya category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or qualitypigeonholea specific (often simplistic) categoryrubriccategory namewaya general category of things; used in the expression `in the way of'guideline, guidepost, rule of thumba rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behaviorcy pres, cy pres doctrine, rule of cy presa rule that when literal compliance is impossible the intention of a donor or testator should be carried out as nearly as possiblecharacter, lineament, qualitya characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of somethingfeature, feature of speech(linguistics) a distinctive characteristic of a linguistic unit that serves to distinguish it from other units of the same kindabsolutesomething that is conceived or that exists independently and not in relation to other things; something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control; something that is not relativeteachera personified abstraction that teachesthinga special abstractionquantuma discrete amount of something that is analogous to the quantities in quantum theorytermany distinct quantity contained in a polynomialnumerical quantitya quantity expressed as a numberoperanda quantity upon which a mathematical operation is performedparametera quantity (such as the mean or variance) that characterizes a statistical population and that can be estimated by calculations from sample dataproportionalone of the quantities in a mathematical proportionbeginningthe first part or section of somethingmiddlean intermediate part or sectionenda final part or sectionhigh pointthe most enjoyable part of a given experienceunita single undivided wholecompounda whole formed by a union of two or more elements or partsdivine lawa law that is believed to come directly from Godprinciplea basic truth or law or assumptionall-or-none law(neurophysiology) a nerve impulse resulting from a weak stimulus is just as strong as a nerve impulse resulting from a strong stimulusArchimedes' principle, law of Archimedes(hydrostatics) the apparent loss in weight of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluidAvogadro's hypothesis, Avogadro's lawthe principle that equal volumes of all gases (given the same temperature and pressure) contain equal numbers of moleculesBernoulli's law, law of large numbers(statistics) law stating that a large number of items taken at random from a population will (on the average) have the population statisticsBenford's lawa law used by auditors to identify fictitious populations of numbers; applies to any population of numbers derived from other numbersBose-Einstein statistics(physics) statistical law obeyed by a system of particles whose wave function is not changed when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle does not apply)Boyle's law, Mariotte's lawthe pressure of an ideal gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the volumeCoulomb's Lawa fundamental principle of electrostatics; the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them; principle also holds for magnetic polesDalton's law, Dalton's law of partial pressures, law of partial pressures(chemistry and physics) law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases equals the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture; the pressure of a gas in a mixture equals the pressure it would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperaturedistribution law(chemistry) the total energy in an assembly of molecules is not distributed equally but is distributed around an average value according to a statistical distributionequilibrium law, law of chemical equilibrium(chemistry) the principle that (at chemical equilibrium) in a reversible reaction the ratio of the rate of the forward reaction to the rate of the reverse reaction is a constant for that reactionFechner's law, Weber-Fechner law(psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity; based on early work by E. H. WeberFermi-Dirac statistics(physics) law obeyed by a systems of particles whose wave function changes when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle applies)Charles's law, Gay-Lussac's law, law of volumes(physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperatureHenry's law(chemistry) law formulated by the English chemist William Henry; the amount of a gas that will be absorbed by water increases as the gas pressure increasesHooke's law(physics) the principle that (within the elastic limit) the stress applied to a solid is proportional to the strain producedHubble law, Hubble's law(astronomy) the generalization that the speed of recession of distant galaxies (the red shift) is proportional to their distance from the observerKepler's law, Kepler's law of planetary motion(astronomy) one of three empirical laws of planetary motion stated by Johannes KeplerKirchhoff's laws(physics) two laws governing electric networks in which steady currents flow: the sum of all the currents at a point is zero and the sum of the voltage gains and drops around any closed circuit is zerolaw of averagesa law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performancelaw of constant proportion, law of definite proportions(chemistry) law stating that every pure substance always contains the same elements combined in the same proportions by weightlaw of diminishing returnsa law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectivenesslaw of effect(psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeatedlaw of equivalent proportions, law of reciprocal proportions(chemistry) law stating that the proportions in which two elements separately combine with a third element are also the proportions in which they combine togetherNewton's law of gravitation, law of gravitation(physics) the law that states any two bodies attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between themDalton's law, law of multiple proportions(chemistry) law stating that when two elements can combine to form more than one compound the amounts of one of them that combines with a fixed amount of the other will exhibit a simple multiple relationlaw of mass action(chemistry) the law that states the following principle: the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the molecular concentrations of the reacting substanceslaw of thermodynamics(physics) a law governing the relations between states of energy in a closed systemMendel's law(genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic researchOhm's lawelectric current is directly proportional to voltage and inversely proportional to resistance; I = E/RPascal's law, Pascal's law of fluid pressurespressure applied anywhere to a body of fluid causes a force to be transmitted equally in all directions; the force acts at right angles to any surface in contact with the fluidPauli exclusion principle, exclusion principleno two electrons or protons or neutrons in a given system can be in states characterized by the same set of quantum numbersMendeleev's law, periodic law(chemistry) the principle that chemical properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbersPlanck's law(physics) the basis of quantum theory; the energy of electromagnetic waves is contained in indivisible quanta that have to be radiated or absorbed as a whole; the magnitude is proportional to frequency where the constant of proportionality is given by Planck's constantPlanck's radiation law(physics) an equation that expresses the distribution of energy in the radiated spectrum of an ideal black bodyhypotheticala hypothetical possibility, circumstance, statement, proposal, situation, etc.gemmulethe physically discrete element that Darwin proposed as responsible for heredityconjecture, speculationa hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)principle of relativity(physics) a universal law that states that the laws of mechanics are not affected by a uniform rectilinear motion of the system of coordinates to which they are referredStevens' law, Stevens' power law, power law(psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensityWeber's law(psychophysics) the concept that a just-noticeable difference in a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulusbinomial(mathematics) a quantity expressed as a sum or difference of two terms; a polynomial with two termshistoricisma theory that social and cultural events are determined by historysound lawa law describing sound changes in the history of a languagelinguistic universal, universal(linguistics) a grammatical rule (or other linguistic feature) that is found in all languagesgame(tennis) a division of play during which one player servesfirst periodthe first division into which the play of a game is dividedsecond periodthe second division into which the play of a game is dividedfinal periodthe final division into which the play of a game is dividedhalfone of two divisions into which some games or performances are divided: the two divisions are separated by an intervalperiod(ice hockey) one of three divisions into which play is divided in hockey gamesquarter(football, professional basketball) one of four divisions into which some games are dividedover(cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitchinput(mathematics) a quantity or variable that, when fed into a function, results in a single outputoutput(mathematics) the result or solution of a function that is associated with a single input
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Word Family
Vocabulary lists containing construct
Latin Love, Vol I: struere
Many words are constructed from the Latin root struere meaning "to build" or "to assemble." Whenever you see stru built in to a word, think of how the word relates to the concept of building. More Latin Love, Volume I lists: vocare, portare, sci, and via!
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
Vocabulary from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."