Library / English Dictionary

CONSTRUCT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances

Synonyms:

concept; conception; construct

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("construct" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "construct"):

conceptualisation; conceptuality; conceptualization (an elaborated concept)

notion (a general inclusive concept)

category (a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme)

regulation; rule (a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior)

attribute; dimension; property (a construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished)

abstract; abstraction (a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance)

quantity (the concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable)

division; part; section (one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole)

whole (all of something including all its component elements or parts)

law; natural law (a rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human society)

law; law of nature (a generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature)

lexicalized concept (a concept that is expressed by a word (in some particular language))

hypothesis; possibility; theory (a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena)

fact (a concept whose truth can be proved)

linguistic rule; rule ((linguistics) a rule describing (or prescribing) a linguistic practice)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reassemble mentally

Example:

reconstruct the events of 20 years ago

Synonyms:

construct; reconstruct; retrace

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

conjecture; hypothecate; hypothesise; hypothesize; speculate; suppose; theorise; theorize (to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "construct"):

etymologise; etymologize (construct the history of words)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Draw with suitable instruments and under specified conditions

Example:

construct an equilateral triangle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

delineate; describe; draw; line; trace (make a mark or lines on a surface)

Domain category:

geometry (the pure mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

construction (drawing a figure satisfying certain conditions as part of solving a problem or proving a theorem)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put together out of artificial or natural components or parts

Example:

He manufactured a popular cereal

Synonyms:

construct; fabricate; manufacture

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

make (make by shaping or bringing together constituents)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "construct"):

mass-produce (produce on a large scale)

raft (make into a raft)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make by combining materials and parts

Example:

Some eccentric constructed an electric brassiere warmer

Synonyms:

build; construct; make

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Verb group:

build (be engaged in building)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "construct"):

customise; customize (make according to requirements)

revet (construct a revetment)

dry-wall (construct with drywall)

lock (build locks in order to facilitate the navigation of vessels)

wattle (build of or with wattle)

frame; frame up (construct by fitting or uniting parts together)

rebuild; reconstruct (build again)

groin (build with groins)

cantilever (construct with girders and beams such that only one end is fixed)

erect; put up; raise; rear; set up (construct, build, or erect)

corduroy (build (a road) from logs laid side by side)

channelise; channelize (make a channel for; provide with a channel)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The men construct the bookshelves

Derivation:

construction (the act of constructing something)

constructor (someone who contracts for and supervises construction (as of a building))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Create by organizing and linking ideas, arguments, or concepts

Example:

construct an argument

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Create by linking linguistic units

Example:

construct a paragraph

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "construct" is one way to...):

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

In each block, two snow fences were constructed several feet apart to control snow cover in the winter.

(Rising tundra temperatures lead to changes in microbial communities, National Science Foundation)

Scientists recently restored Voyager's footage of Triton and used it to construct the best global color map of that strange moon yet — further whetting appetites for a Pluto close-up.

(NASA Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Crosses Neptune's Orbit, NASA)

DNA constructs that are composed of, at least, a REPLICATION ORIGIN, for successful replication, propagation to and maintenance as an extra chromosome in bacteria.

(Bacterial Artificial Chromosome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Bispecific antibody MDX-H210 was constructed by chemically linking Fab' fragments of the anti-HER2/neu-specific monoclonal antibody 520C9 and the Fab' fragments of the anti-Fc gammaRI-specific monoclonal antibody H22.

(Bispecific Antibody MDX-H210, NCI Thesaurus)

Metal closure that is designed or constructed to be significantly difficult for children under five years of age to open and not difficult for normal adults to use properly.

(Child Resistant Metal Container Closure, Food and Drug Administration)

The ends of the construct are closed with pentagonal-shaped rings.

(Carbon Nanotube, NCI Thesaurus)

This leads to both increased uptake of fluorine 18 galacto-RGD peptide by tumor cells and enhanced PET imaging efficiency, when compared to other agents that are constructed using lipophilic conjugates.

(Fluorine F 18 Galacto-RGD Peptide, NCI Thesaurus)

This peptide, sequence: MEAGRPRPCCAR, was constructed based on a frameshift mutation of one of the VHL gene products; the more abundant protein VHLp18(MEA) (where MEA stands for three amino acids, Met-Glu-Ala).

(FrSh61 (MEA) VHL33 Peptide, NCI Thesaurus)

Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The arrangement of these elements defines the final geometry of the resulting construct.

(Physical Composition, NCI Thesaurus)