English
composition
Etymology

From Middle English composicioun, borrowed from Old French composicion, from Latin compositiō.

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/
Noun

composition

  1. The act of putting together; assembly.
  2. A mixture or compound; the result of composing. [from 16th c.]
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii], page 291 ↗, column 2:
      Ste. What do'st thou know me for?
      Kent. A Knave, a Rascall, [...] one that would'st be a Baud in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a Kave, Begger, Coward, Pandar, and the Sonne and Heire of a Mungrill Bitch, one whom I will beate in to clamours whining, if thou deny'st the least sillable of thy addition.
  3. The proportion of different parts to make a whole. [from 14th c.]
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Exodus 30:37 ↗:
      And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.
  4. The general makeup of a thing or person. [from 14th c.]
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene 1]:
      John of Gaunt. O how that name befits my composition!
      Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old:
      Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast;
      And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt?
    • 1932, Frank Richards, The Magnet - Bunter's Night Out:
      It seemed that the milk of human kindness had not been left out of his composition.
  5. (obsolete) An agreement or treaty used to settle differences; later especially, an agreement to stop hostilities; a truce. [14th]
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
      It will stoope and yeeld upon better compositions to him that shall make head against it.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii], lines 1-3:
      If the Duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then all the dukes fall upon the king.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      That now
      Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition:
      Nor would we deign him burial of his men
      Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s inch
      Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
  6. (obsolete) A payment of money in order to clear a liability or obligation; a settling or fine. [16th]
    • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All's Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:
      He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a most chaste renown; and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour: he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchaste composition.
    • 1688, Parliament of England, Toleration Act 1688, section 3:
      That all and every person and persons already convicted or prosecuted in order to conviction of recusancy […] shall be thenceforth exempted and discharged from all the penalties, seizures, forfeitures, judgments, and executions, incurred by force of any of the aforesaid Statutes, without any composition, fee, or further charge whatsoever.
    • 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the”, in The Complaint, London: […] , →OCLC ↗:
      Insidious death! should his strong hand arrest,
      No composition sets the prisoner free.
    1. (Singapore, law) A payment of fine in order to settle a (usually minor) criminal charge.
  7. (legal) an agreement or compromise by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.
  8. An essay. [from 16th c.]
  9. (linguistics) The formation of compound words from separate words. [from 16th c.]
  10. A work of music, literature or art. [from 17th c.]
    • 1818, Jane Austen, A letter dated 8 September 1818:
      […] and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard words, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment. Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.
  11. (printing) Typesetting. [from 19th c.]
  12. (mathematics) Applying a function to the result of another.
  13. (physics) The compounding of two velocities or forces into a single equivalent velocity or force.
  14. (obsolete) Consistency; accord; congruity.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:
      There is no composition in these news
      That gives them credit.
  15. Synthesis as opposed to analysis.
    • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC ↗:
      The investigation of difficult things by the method of analysis ought ever to precede the method of composition.
  16. (painting, photography) The arrangement and flow of elements in a picture.
  17. (object-oriented programming) Way to combine simple objects or data types into more complex ones.
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