component

UK: /kəmˈpəʊnənt/ US: /kəmˈpoʊnənt/ ,(kəm pō′nənt, kom-)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•po•nent /kəmˈpoʊnənt/   n. [countable]

1. a basic or fundamental part from which something is made.
2. Electricity a part of a mechanical or electrical system:
   hi-fi components.

adj. [before a noun]

3. being or serving as an element in something larger; constituent:
   component parts.

com•po•nen•tial /ˌkɑmpəˈnɛnʃəl/  adj. See -pon-.
Synonyms

See element.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•po•nent  (kəm pō′nənt, kom-), n. 

1. a constituent part; element;
   ingredient.
2. a part of a mechanical or electrical system:
   hi-fi components.
3. Physics the projection of a vector quantity, as force or velocity, along an axis.
4. Chemistry [Physical Chem.] one of the set of the minimum number of chemical constituents by which every phase of a given system can be described.
5. Mathematics
   • a connected subset of a set, not contained in any other connected subset of the set.
   • a coordinate of a vector.
6. Linguistics
   • one of the major subdivisions of a generative grammar:
     base component;
     semantic component;
     phonological component.
     Cf. level (def. 17).
   • a feature determined by componential analysis.

adj. 

7. being or serving as an element (in something larger);
   composing;
   constituent:
   the component parts of a computer system.

• Latin compōnent- (stem of compōnēns, present participle of compōnere to put together), equivalent. to com- com- + pōn(ere) to put + -ent- -ent
• 1555–65

com•po•nen•tial  (kom′pə nen′shəl), com′po•nen′tal, adj.  com•po′nent•ed, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. See element. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

component / kəmˈpəʊnənt/ noun

1. a constituent part or aspect of something more complex
2. Also called: element any electrical device, such as a resistor, that has distinct electrical characteristics and that may be connected to other electrical devices to form a circuit
3. one of a set of two or more vectors whose resultant is a given vector
4. one of the minimum number of chemically distinct constituents necessary to describe fully the composition of each phase in a system
   See phase rule

adjective

1. forming or functioning as a part or aspect; constituent

Etymology: 17th Century: from Latin compōnere to put together, from pōnere to place, put

componential / ˌkɒmpəˈnɛnʃəl/ adjective