constant
See also: Constant
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English constant, from Old French constant, from Latin constantem, accusative of constans, from constare (“to stand firm”). Displaced native Old English singal.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
constant (comparative more constant, superlative most constant)
- Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
- Consistently recurring over time; persistent.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:continuous
- 2013 November 16, Schumpeter, “The mindfulness business”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8862:
- The constant pinging of electronic devices is driving many people to the end of their tether. Electronic devices not only overload the senses and invade leisure time. They feed on themselves: the more people tweet the more they are rewarded with followers and retweets.
- Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.
- c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Second Booke] Chapter 3”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC, page 162:
- Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- I am constant to my purposes.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.
- Firm; solid; not fluid.
- 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC:
- If […] you mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.
- (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- I am no more mad than you are: make the trial of it with any constant question.
- (computing, complexity theory) Bounded above by a constant.
- constant time constant space
SynonymsEdit
- (unchanged through time or space): nonchanging, unaltering, unvarying; see also Thesaurus:changeless
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
unchanged through time
|
consistently recurring over time
|
steady
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
NounEdit
constant (plural constants)
| Previous: | n/a |
|---|---|
| Next: | linear |
- That which is permanent or invariable.
- (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
- (sciences) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
- (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.
Derived termsEdit
- absolute constant
- acid dissociation constant
- Apéry's constant
- Archimedes' constant
- Avogadro constant
- Avogadro's constant
- Boltzmann constant
- Boltzmann's constant
- Brun's constant
- Chaitin's constant
- constant function
- constant of integration
- constant problem
- Conway's constant
- cosmological constant
- Coulomb's constant
- de Bruijn-Newman constant
- dielectric constant
- Dirac constant
- Dirac's constant
- Einstein constant
- Einstein's constant
- equilibrium constant
- Euler-Mascheroni constant
- Feigenbaum constant
- fine structure constant
- fine-structure constant
- Fransén-Robinson constant
- fundamental constant
- gas constant
- Gelfond's constant
- gravitational constant
- Hubble constant
- Hubble's constant
- Landau-Ramanujan constant
- lattice constant
- logical constant
- Ludolph's constant
- Madelung constant
- physical constant
- Planck constant
- Planck's constant
- propositional constant
- Ramanujan's constant
- rate constant
- reaction rate constant
- Rydberg constant
- screening constant
- separation constant
- shielding constant
- solar constant
- Sommerfeld's constant
- spring constant
- Stefan-Boltzmann constant
- Stieltjes constant
- symbolic constant
- time constant
TranslationsEdit
that which is permanent or invariable
|
algebra: quantity that remains fixed
|
science: property that does not change
|
identifier that is bound to an invariant value
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Related termsEdit
- constantly (adv)
- constancy (n)
See alsoEdit
- (computing) literal
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
constant (masculine and feminine plural constants)
- constant
- Antonym: inconstant
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
NounEdit
constant f (plural constants)
Further readingEdit
- “constant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “constant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “constant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “constant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Middle French constant, from Latin cōnstāns.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
constant (comparative constanter, superlative constantst)
- constant, invariable
- constant, continuous, unceasing
InflectionEdit
| Inflection of constant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | constant | |||
| inflected | constante | |||
| comparative | constanter | |||
| positive | comparative | superlative | ||
| predicative/adverbial | constant | constanter | het constantst het constantste | |
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | constante | constantere | constantste |
| n. sing. | constant | constanter | constantste | |
| plural | constante | constantere | constantste | |
| definite | constante | constantere | constantste | |
| partitive | constants | constanters | — | |
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- → Indonesian: konstan
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
constant (feminine constante, masculine plural constants, feminine plural constantes)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “constant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
LatinEdit
VerbEdit
cōnstant
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From French constant, from Latin constans.
AdjectiveEdit
constant m or n (feminine singular constantă, masculine plural constanți, feminine and neuter plural constante)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of constant
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
| nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | constant | constantă | constanți | constante | ||
| definite | constantul | constanta | constanții | constantele | |||
| genitive/ dative |
indefinite | constant | constante | constanți | constante | ||
| definite | constantului | constantei | constanților | constantelor | |||