Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧩 To make up 🎼 To create 🧘 To calm down
to compose

to compose

106 3.8
To be the parts that together form something
  • verb
  • /kəmˈpoʊz/
translation icon : constituir
  • A human body is composed mainly of water and organic matter.
  • elements compose
  • groups compose the population
  • be composed of members

The family or the household is a whole composed of parts.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Isn't a human body composed mainly of water?

    The Faculty (1998)

  • Life is composed of three actions: eating, sleeping and playing.

    When We Dance (2019)

  • Seven letters compose my name.

    Shortcut (2020)

  • Well, a, a, a community is composed of members.

  • A perfect diamond would be composed simply of light.

    The Perfect Host (2010)

  • So this lining is composed of many, many cells.

  • Every vacuum former is composed of three key parts.

  • Everything we call reality is composed of tiny particles of energy.

    The Lovers (2015)

  • And all of her wonderful books are composed of such paradoxes.

  • Turkish or Anatolian culture is very rich and composed of many different traditions, ethnicities, and religions.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

to make up
vsto compose
239 2.7

Be the parts that form a whole

focuses more on the resulting parts rather than the act of assembling
to constitute
vsto compose
140 4.4

To be the parts that make up a whole

emphasizes the action of putting parts together rather than just existing as parts
to form
vsto compose
107 2.1

To make or be a particular part of something

focuses on building or combining parts rather than merely serving as a part

Antonyms

to dismantle
64 4.2

Take something apart into separate pieces

Surface Forms

compose infinitive
composed past
composed past participle
composing present participle
composes third person singular

Morphology

compose = pose (semi-transparent) = com + pose

The sense 'make up; constitute' aligns with the idea of 'putting together' (com- + pose), but the everyday meaning of 'pose' may not transparently convey 'put' to learners.

Etymology

Compose comes from the parts com- ('together') and ponere ('to put'), and it originally meant to 'put parts together'. That's why when we say something 'is composed of' certain things, we mean those parts are 'put together' to make the whole.