composite Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts
    complex.
    • the complex of shopping malls, houses, and roads created a new town
  2. noun considered the most highly evolved dicotyledonous plants, characterized by florets arranged in dense heads that resemble single flowers
    composite plant.
  3. adjective satellite consisting of separate interconnected parts
  4. adjective of or relating to or belonging to the plant family Compositae

WordNet

Com*pos"ite adjective
Etymology
L. compositus made up of parts, p. p. of componere. See Compound, v. t., and cf. Compost.
Definitions
  1. Made up of distinct parts or elements; compounded; as, a composite language.
    Happiness, like air and water . . . is composite. Landor.
  2. (Arch.) 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.
  3. (Bot.) Belonging to the order Compositæ; bearing involucrate heads of many small florets, as the daisy, thistle, and dandelion.
Com*pos"ite noun
Definitions
  1. That which is made up of parts or compounded of several elements; composition; combination; compound. R.

Webster 1913