[com.po.si.tion] n [ME composicioun, fr. MF composition, fr. L composition-, compositio, fr. componere] (14c) 1 a: the act or process of composing; specif: arrangement into specific proportion or relation and esp. into artistic form b (1): the arrangement of type for printing "hand ~" (2): the production of type or typographic characters (as in photocomposition) arranged for printing
2. a: the manner in which something is composed b: general makeup "the changing ethnic ~ of the city --Leonard Buder" c: the qualitative and quantitative makeup of a chemical compound
3: mutual settlement or agreement
4: a product of mixing or combining various elements or ingredients
5: an intellectual creation: as a: a piece of writing; esp: a school exercise in the form of a brief essay b: a written piece of music esp. of considerable size and complexity
6: the quality or state of being compound 7: the operation of forming a composite function; also: composite function -- com.po.si.tion.al adj -- com.po.si.tion.al.ly adv