constitution
n. C / Un. the basic rules and laws that guide how a country or group works. It tells the government what it can and cannot do.
n. the fundamental principles or established precedents that govern a state or other organization.
The country's constitution protects the right to free speech.
After the revolution, the new leaders spent months drafting a constitution to establish a democratic government.
The supreme court ruled that the proposed surveillance legislation violated the constitution by infringing upon citizens' fundamental privacy rights.
PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constitucioun, constitucion (“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem (“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō (“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”). Equivalent to constitute + -ion.
Often capitalized when referring to a specific national document, in which case it takes the definite article.