construct

Borrowed from Latin cōnstrūctus, from cōnstruō (“to heap together”), from com- (“together”) + struō (“I heap up, pile”). Doublet of construe.

Noun

• (UK) enPR: kŏn'strŭkt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.stɹʌkt/
• (US) enPR: kän'strŭkt, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.stɹʌkt/

• Audio (US), noun

  (file)

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: kən-strŭkt', IPA^(key): /kənˈstɹʌkt/

• Audio (US), verb

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌkt

construct (plural constructs)

1. Something constructed from parts.

   The artwork was a construct of wire and tubes.

   Loops and conditional statements are constructs in computer programming.

2. A concept or model.

   Bohr's theoretical construct of the atom was soon superseded by quantum mechanics.

3. (genetics) A segment of nucleic acid, created artificially, for transplantation into a target cell or tissue.

• (something constructed from parts): construction
• (concept, model): concept, idea, model, notion, representation

construct (third-person singular simple present constructs, present participle constructing, simple past and past participle constructed)

1. (transitive) To build or form (something) by assembling parts.

   We constructed the radio from spares.

   A wall constructed of random stones.

2. (transitive) To build (a sentence, an argument, etc.) by arranging words or ideas.

   A sentence may be constructed with a subject, verb and object.

   • 1997, Marita Sturken, Tangled Memories:

     The Vietnam War films are forms of memory that function to provide collective rememberings, to construct history, and to subsume within them the experience of the veterans.

3. (transitive, geometry) To draw (a geometric figure) by following precise specifications and using geometric tools and techniques.

   Construct a circle that touches each vertex of the given triangle.

• (build or form by assembling parts'): assemble, build, form, make, produce, put together
• (build (a sentence or argument)): form
• (draw (a geometric figure)):

• (build or form by assembling parts): destroy, disassemble, dismantle, ruin, wreck, take apart

• deconstruct
• ill-constructed
• overconstruct
• reconstruct
• unconstruct

• “construct”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “construct”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “construct”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from English construct.

construct n (plural constructe)

1. construct