constitution

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun 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.
• 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 The supreme law of the United States, consisting of the document ratified by the original thirteen states (1787–1790) and subsequent amendments.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of constituting, establishing, or appointing; formation.
• noun The state of being constituted, composed, made up, or established; the assemblage and union of the essential elements and characteristic parts of a system or body, especially of the human organism; the composition, make-up, or natural condition of anything: as, the physical constitution of the sun; the constitution of a sanitary system; a weak or irritable constitution.
• noun A system of fundamental principles, maxims, laws, or rules embodied in written documents or established by prescriptive usage, for the government of a nation, state, society, corporation, or association: as, the Constitution of the United States; the British Constitution; the Constitution of the State of New York; the constitution of a social club, etc.
• noun A particular law, ordinance, or regulation, made by the authority of any superior, civil or ecclesiastical; specifically, in Roman law, what an emperor enacted, either by decree, edict, or letter, and without the interposition of any constitutional assembly: as, the constitutions of Justinian.
• noun Any system of fundamental principles of action: as, the New Testament is the moral constitution of modern society.
• noun That branch of the law which defines and interprets the scope and meaning of a constitution.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act or process of constituting; the action of enacting, establishing, or appointing; enactment; establishment; formation.
• noun The state of being; that form of being, or structure and connection of parts, which constitutes and characterizes a system or body; natural condition; structure; texture; conformation.
• noun The aggregate of all one's inherited physical qualities; the aggregate of the vital powers of an individual, with reference to ability to endure hardship, resist disease, etc..
• noun The aggregate of mental qualities; temperament.
• noun The fundamental, organic law or principles of government of men, embodied in written documents, or implied in the institutions and usages of the country or society; also, a written instrument embodying such organic law, and laying down fundamental rules and principles for the conduct of affairs.
• noun An authoritative ordinance, regulation or enactment; especially, one made by a Roman emperor, or one affecting ecclesiastical doctrine or discipline.
• noun See under Apostolic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup.
• noun The formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institutions.
• noun A legal document describing such a formal system.
• noun The general health of a person.
• noun A person's physique or temperament

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a United States 44-gun frigate that was one of the first three naval ships built by the United States; it won brilliant victories over British frigates during the War of 1812 and is without doubt the most famous ship in the history of the United States Navy; it has been rebuilt and is anchored in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston
• noun the constitution written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states
• noun the act of forming or establishing something
• noun law determining the fundamental political principles of a government
• noun the way in which someone or something is composed