constant - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English constant, from Old French constant, from Latin constantem, accusative of constans, from cōnstāre (“to stand firm”). Displaced native Old English singal.

constant (comparative more constant, superlative most constant)

  1. Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
  2. 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.
  3. Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.
  4. Firm; solid; not fluid.
    • 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], 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.
  5. (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
  6. (computing, complexity theory) Bounded above by a constant.
    constant time constant space

unchanged through time

consistently recurring over time

steady

constant (plural constants)

polynomial degrees

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  1. That which is permanent or invariable.
  2. (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion or operation.
    Antonym: variable
    Coordinate terms: parameter, metaparameter
    • 2015, Emanuel Carneiro, Damiano Foschi, Diogo Oliveira e Silva, Christoph Thiele, “A sharp trilinear inequality related to Fourier restriction on the circle”, in arXiv‎[1]:
      We also establish that constants are local extremizers of the Tomas-Stein adjoint restriction inequality as well as of another inequality appearing in the program..
  3. (sciences) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
    Coordinate terms: parameter, metaparameter
    • 2015, Lenny H.E. Winkel et al., “Selenium Cycling Across Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interfaces: A Critical Review”, in Nutrients‎[2], volume 7, →DOI:
      Based on their acid dissociation constants (pKa), seleneous[_sic_] acid (H2SeO3) and selenic acid (H2SeO4) are anionic under common environmental conditions [48], e.g., as selenite (SeO32−) and selenate (SeO42−).
  4. (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.

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

Borrowed from Latin cōnstantem.

constant m or f (masculine and feminine plural constants)

  1. constant
    Antonym: inconstant

constant f (plural constants)

  1. constant

constant

  1. gerund of constar

Borrowed from Middle French constant, from Latin cōnstāns.

constant (comparative constanter, superlative constantst)

  1. constant, invariable
  2. constant, continuous, unceasing
Declension of constant
uninflected constant
inflected constante
comparative constanter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial constant constanter het constantsthet constantste
indefinite m./f. sing. constante constantere constantste
n. sing. constant constanter constantste
plural constante constantere constantste
definite constante constantere constantste
partitive constants constanters —

Learned borrowing from Latin cōnstans.

constant

  1. present participle of conster

constant (feminine constante, masculine plural constants, feminine plural constantes)

  1. constant

cōnstant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of cōnstō

Borrowed from French constant, from Latin constans.

constant m or n (feminine singular constantă, masculine plural constanți, feminine/neuter plural constante)

  1. constant