Constant

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈkÉ’nstÉ™nt/
• US IPA: /ˈkÉ‘nstÉ™nt/

Origin

From Old French, from Latin constantem, from constare ("to stand firm").

Full definition of constant

Adjective

1. Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
2. Consistently recurring over time; persistent.
• 2013-11-16, Schumpeter, The mindfulness business, 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.
• Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)I am constant to my purposes.
• John Dryden (1631-1700)His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.
4. Firm; solid; not fluid.
• Robert Boyle (1627-1691)If...you mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.
5. (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
• Shakespeare, Twelfth Night IV.iiI am no more mad than you are: make the trial of it with any constant question.

Noun

1. That which is permanent or invariable.
2. (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
3. (science) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
4. (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.

Related terms

• constantly adverb
• constancy noun