Definition of "constitution" []

• The act or process of composing, setting up, or establishing. (noun)
• The composition or structure of something; makeup. (noun)
• The physical makeup of a person: Having a strong constitution, she had no trouble climbing the mountain. (noun)
• The system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution. (noun)
• The document in which such a system is recorded. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "a democracy is fairly open to the objection that it is not a constitution at all; for _where the laws have no authority there is no constitution_."
• "As to subject-matter, the term constitution, if used in a restricted sense, denotes some statute which the Vicar of Christ issues in solemn form either to the whole Christian world or to part of it, with the intention of permanently binding those to whom it is addressed."
• "The term constitution denotes, in general, the make-up of a body, either physical or moral."