compose
verb
Simple meaning
To make something by merging parts.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmpohzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmˈpoʊz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To make something by merging parts.
Make up plans or basic details for
transitive
To make up the whole; to constitute.
transitive or intransitive
To construct by mental labor; to think up; particularly, to produce or create a literary or musical work.
To arrange the elements of a photograph or other picture.
To arrange in proper form; to reduce to order; to put in proper state or condition.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make something by merging parts.
Used this way, compose is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- indite , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use compose
- “Greed and ambition composed his personality.”verb
- “She had to compose herself before she could reply to this terrible insult.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Serenely self-possessed and free from agitation especially in times of stress.
Someone who composes music as a profession.
The spatial property resulting from the arrangement of parts in relation to each other and to the whole.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.