Definition of "constitutional"

constitutional

/ˌkɒnstɪˈtjuːʃ(ə)n(ə)l/

adjective
comparative more constitutional, superlative most constitutional
1. Belonging to, or inherent in, the constitution or structure of one's body or mind.
2. For the benefit of one's constitution or health.
3. Relating to the constitution or composition of something; essential, fundamental.
4. (law)
  1. Relating to a legal or political constitution (“the basic law of a nation or institution; the formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institution”).
    Quotations
    On January 18, 1810, Republican Senator Philip Reed introduced a constitutional amendment addressing the acceptance of titles of nobility by American citizens.31
    1999 April, Jol A. Silversmith, “The "Missing Thirteenth Amendment": Constitutional Nonsense and Titles of Nobility”, in Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal‎, volume 8, number 2, USC Gould School of Law, archived from the original on 15 February 2015, page 582
  2. In compliance with or valid under a legal or political constitution.
    Quotations
    Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional: Same-sex marriage in Thailand will have to wait, as the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously today (Wednesday) that Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code, defining marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, is constitutional.
    2021 November 17, Thai PBS, “Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional”, in Thai PBS World‎, Bangkok: Thai Public Broadcasting Service, retrieved 2021-11-17
  3. (also politics) Of a monarch: having a purely ceremonial role, or possessing powers limited by a constitution rather than plenary or unlimited powers.
noun
plural constitutionals
1. A walk that is taken regularly for good health and wellbeing.
  Quotations
  Moments of potential transcendence, such as an afternoon constitutional through an expressionistic wonderland recalling the Fuji Velvia vividness of What Dreams May Come, ring false in light of this project's mercenary origins.
  2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 24 May 2019
  it was then still just possible to have a relatively normal life at the family’s 25-bedroom mansion at 145 Piccadilly, from where the baby was taken for a two-hour constitutional in her pram to Hyde Park and back every day by her governess.
  2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian‎
2. (euphemistic) An act of defecation.
  Quotations
  For Mac McCrary and me, the Tet Offensive of 1968 begins as we sit in the outhouse. Since things are in such disorder, sergeants have been invited to use the officers' facility. We both arrive at the latrine at the same time to take a constitutional.
  2006, Tom A. Johnson, To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam, Potomac Books, Inc.
  The painter looked up at the ceiling. He listened to the woman's television and wondered what to do. He got out of bed. The painter started the coffee pot. He went into the bathroom to take his morning constitutional. The poor painter could still hear the woman's television. Christ, how he hated her.
  2012, Nathaniel Tower, Bartleby Snopes Issue 7, Lulu.com, page 56
  Or there was the quickie hire of the White dressed up to look like you the hirer yourself in a hoodie (fashion out of the film Rocky, guaranteed in writing) thundering along'n'away for a quickie ten-kays early-morning constitutional to clear out the tubes, fitness being part of your innate lifestyle out of the clean slate of your mind, and not the way your waistline was trying to meet the core of your gravity face-to-face.
  2020 January 3, Bill Reed, Wi, Reed Independent

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