constitutional
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌkɒnstɪˈtjuːʃ(ə)n(ə)l/
ipa: /ˌkɑnstɪˈt(j)uʃ(ə)n(ə)l/
ipa: /-stə-/
Forms: form: constitutionals
Etymology: PIE word
 *ḱóm
From constitution + -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Constitution is derived from Middle English constitucioun, constitucion (“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem (“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō (“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”) (from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + statuō (“to set up, station; to establish; to determine, fix”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”))) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions), -tiōnem (accusative singular of -tiō).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian:
glosses: Something that aids or fosters one's constitution (health):
A walk that is taken regularly for good health and wellbeing.
examples: text: morning constitutional
text: 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.
ref: 2006, Tom A. Johnson, To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam, Potomac Books, Inc., →ISBN:
text: 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.
ref: 2012, Nathaniel Tower, Bartleby Snopes Issue 7, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 56:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 January 3, Bill Reed, Wi, Reed Independent, →ISBN:
glosses: Something that aids or fosters one's constitution (health):
An act of defecation.