component

Pluralcomponents

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A self-contained part of a larger whole, especially a manufactured piece designed to fit into a larger device or system.

   The mechanic replaced a faulty component in the transmission.

   Trust is an essential component of any lasting partnership.

   Similarpart, element, piece, constituent, ingredient

   Note

   Latin gave English the participle compōnēns, "putting together," so a component is literally something placed alongside others to build a whole. The word moves easily from hardware to ideas: a CPU is a component of a computer, and lying can be called a key component of a political system. The usual pattern is a component of something, often sharpened by key, critical or essential.

2. 2
   adjective

   Serving as one of the parts that together make up a larger whole.

   Engineers tested each component subsystem before final assembly.

   The auditors reviewed the component costs that made up the total bid.

   Similarconstituent

   Note

   The adjective sits before its noun and takes no degrees: a component word or component costs, but never a more component part. It describes what belongs to a larger whole, which keeps it apart from the "built from units" sense. A component part sits inside a system, while a component system is made of parts.

3. 3
   adjective

   Made up of smaller, complete units that combine to form a single whole.

   Audiophiles often prefer a component system to an all-in-one unit.

   The builder chose component construction, with factory-made rooms joined together on site.

   Similarmodular, prefabricated

   Oppositeintegrated, all-in-one

   Note

   Here the parts keep their independence. Each unit is complete in itself and can often be bought or replaced on its own, as in audio equipment or modular building. A component stereo is the classic case, the alternative to an all-in-one unit. Like the "forming part" adjective, it cannot be graded.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   In graph theory, a connected subgraph that is not contained in any larger connected subgraph.

   Removing the cut vertex split the graph into two components.

   The algorithm visits every vertex in a component before moving on to the next.

   Note

   Mathematicians mean something stricter than "a part" here. A component is a maximal connected piece, one that cannot be enlarged without losing connectedness. A graph that falls apart into separate islands has one component per island. In directed graphs the idea splits in two, weakly and strongly connected components, depending on whether the direction of the edges is respected.

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