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Glite Dictionary
immediate constituent

immediate constituent

9.9
A main part of a sentence, like the subject or predicate
  • noun
  • /ɪˈmiːdiət kənˈstɪtʃuənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : constituyente inmediato
  • The sentence was broken down into its two immediate constituents: the subject and the predicate.

Examples

  • Linguists use the concept of immediate constituent to analyze how words group together in a sentence.

  • In the phrase, the immediate constituents are the noun and the verb.

  • By examining each immediate constituent, the structure of the sentence becomes clearer.

  • The immediate constituent of the sentence is the subject.

  • Linguists use the concept of immediate constituent to analyze how words group together in a sentence.

  • The sentence was broken down into its two immediate constituents: the subject and the predicate.

  • By examining each immediate constituent, the structure of the sentence becomes clearer.

Surface Forms

immediate constituent singular
immediate constituents plural

Morphology

immediate + constituent

The meaning is directly built from 'immediate' (direct or directly adjacent) + 'constituent' (a part of a sentence), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a directly related or primary part of a sentence. Although the phrase is a technical term in linguistics, its sense is compositional and follows straightforward English adjective + noun logic, making it readily interpretable by learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Immediate constituent comes from the image of splitting a sentence into its nearest parts: immediate means 'right next to' and constituent means 'part'. So it is the name for a main part of a sentence, like the subject or the predicate, and means 'a main part of a sentence'.