composite

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: com=pos=ite

CIDE DICTIONARY

composite, a. [L. compositus made up of parts, p. p. of componere. See Compound, v. t., and cf. Compost.].

•  Made up of distinct parts or elements; compounded; as, a composite language.  [1913 Webster]

  "Happiness, like air and water . . . is composite."  [1913 Webster]
•  Belonging to a certain order which is composed of the Ionic order grafted upon the Corinthian. It is called also the Roman or the Italic order, and is one of the five orders recognized by the Italian writers of the sixteenth century. See Capital.  [1913 Webster]
•  Belonging to the order Compositæ; bearing involucrate heads of many small florets, as the daisy, thistle, and dandelion.  [1913 Webster]

Composite carriage, a railroad car having compartments of different classes. [Eng.] -- Composite number (Math.), one which can be divided exactly by a number exceeding unity, as 6 by 2 or 3.<-- the opposite of prime number -->. -- Composite photograph or Composite portrait, one made by a combination, or blending, of several distinct photographs. F. Galton. -- Composite sailing (Naut.), a combination of parallel and great circle sailing. -- Composite ship, one with a wooden casing and iron frame.

composite, n. 

 That which is made up of parts or compounded of several elements; composition; combination; compound.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

composite, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 made up of various parts; blended.
2 (esp. of a synthetic building material) made up of recognizable constituents.
3 Archit. of the fifth classical order of architecture, consisting of elements of the Ionic and Corinthian orders.
4 Bot. of the plant family Compositae.
--n.
1 a thing made up of several parts or elements.
2 a synthetic building material.
3 Bot. any plant of the family Compositae, having a head of many small flowers forming one bloom, e.g. the daisy or the dandelion.
4 Polit. a resolution composed of two or more related resolutions.
--v.tr. Polit. amalgamate (two or more similar resolutions).

Derivative

compositely adv. compositeness n.

Etymology

F f. L compositus past part. of componere (as COM-, ponere posit- put)

THESAURUS

composite

admixture, alloy, amalgam, amalgamated, ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibious, blend, blended, certain, combination, combined, combo, commixture, complex, composition, compound, compounded, concoction, confection, conglomerate, dappled, eclectic, ensemble, equivocal, fifty-fifty, half-and-half, heterogeneous, immixture, indiscriminate, integral, integrant, integrated, intermixture, intricate, ironic, jumbled, magma, many-sided, medley, mingled, miscellaneous, mixed, mixture, more, more than one, motley, multifaceted, multinational, multiracial, not singular, numerous, paste, patchy, plural, pluralistic, plurative, promiscuous, rolled into one, scrambled, some, syncretic, thrown together, unified, unitary, united, varied, various

ROGET THESAURUS

composite

Mixture

N mixture, admixture, commixture, commixtion, commixion, intermixture, alloyage, matrimony, junction, combination, miscegenation, impregnation, infusion, diffusion suffusion, transfusion, infiltration, seasoning, sprinkling, interlarding, interpolation, adulteration, sophistication, tinge, tincture, touch, dash, smack, sprinkling, spice, seasoning, infusion, soupcon, alloy, amalgam, brass, chowchow, pewter, magma, half-and-half, melange, tertium quid, miscellany, ambigu, medley, mess, hotchpot, pasticcio, patchwork, odds and ends, all sorts, jumble, salad, sauce, mash, omnium gatherum, gallimaufry, olla-podrida, olio, salmagundi, potpourri, Noah's ark, caldron texture, mingled yarn, mosaic, half-blood, half-caste, mulatto, terceron, quarteron, quinteron, quadroon, octoroon, griffo, zambo, cafuzo, Eurasian, fustee, fustie, griffe, ladino, marabou, mestee, mestizo, quintroon, sacatra zebrule, catalo, cross, hybrid, mongrel, mixed, implex, composite, half-and-half, linsey-woolsey, chowchow, hybrid, mongrel, heterogeneous, motley, miscellaneous, promiscuous, indiscriminate, miscible, among, amongst, amid, amidst, with, in the midst of, in the crowd.