You can think of constitution as the make-up of a thing — the parts it's built from and the way those parts are set up together. Whatever the thing is (a country, a body, a substance), its constitution is how it was put together and holds its shape.
From the word’s history
From Latin constituere 'to set up, establish, fix in place' = com- + statuere 'to set, make stand' (from PIE sta- 'to stand'). A constitution is 'the way something has been set up and made to stand', so it stretches naturally from the physical make-up of a thing to the founding set-up of a state.
來自拉丁文 constituere「建立、設立、固定下來」＝ com-＋ statuere「使站立、安置」（源自 sta-「站」）。constitution 就是「一個東西被立起來、安置成形的方式」，因此能從一個物體的實體構造，自然延伸到一個國家的立國根本。
etymonline.com/word/constitution ; etymonline.com/word/constitute
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料7 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Constitutionname
- 1
lawThe supreme law of some countries, such as Australia, Ireland, and the United States.
- The Constitution is anchored in English liberal thought and the Magna Carta.
- The US Constitution was written in 1787.
constitutionnoun/ˌkɒn.stɪˈtjuː.ʃ(ə)n/
- 1
The act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup.
- the physical constitution of the sun
- 2
governmentThe formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institutions.
- 1693, Edmund Bohun, A Geographical Dictionary They have in their present Constitution a Grand Council of the Nobility, a Senato, a College of Twenty six who give Audience to Ambassadors and report their Demands to the Senate, a Council of Ten; and a Triumvirate (monthly chosen by, and out of, the Ten) of three Inquisitors of State; whose Authority is so absolute, as to extend to the taking away of the Life of the Doge no less than the meanest Artisan, without acquainting the Senate, provided they all three agree in the Sentence.
- Our constitution had begun to exist in times when statesmen were not much accustomed to frame exact definitions.
- 3
lawA legal document describing such a formal system.
- 4
CatholicismChristianityA document issued by a religious authority serving to promulgate some particular church laws or doctrines.
- 5
A person's physical makeup or temperament, especially in respect of robustness.
- He has a strong constitution, so he should make a quick recovery from the illness.
- Our constitutions have never been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the old world.
- 6
datedThe general health of a person.
- But when once his constitution began to decline, he broke very fast, and being attacked bya complication of diseases, he at length gave way to fate, May 10, 1733.
- Don Manuel de Casafonda the governor, whose countenance bespoke a constitution far gone in a decliner had thrown himself on a sopha in the last state of despair and given way to an effusion of tears:
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。