constructor

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin cōnstrūctor, from Latin cōnstruō (“to build”). By surface analysis, construct +‎ -or.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈstɹʌktɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈstɹʌktə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧struct‧or

Noun

constructor (plural constructors)

1. A person who, or thing that, constructs.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 134:

     All this time the great work over which South Australia was spending large sums of money, aided by unceasing efforts on the part of her telegraph constructors, was going on.

   • 1981, Norma Gleason, Cryptograms and Spygrams, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 7:

     It's a big help in solving cryptograms if you know how a cryptogram is constructed. The constructor normally uses two alphabets, one for plaintext, one for the substitute cipher letters.

2. (automotive) A company or individual who builds racing vehicles. In Formula One, constructor status is strictly defined by the rules, but in other motorsports the term is merely a descriptor. Depending on the racing rules, some constructors (e.g. Cosworth) may provide vehicles to racing teams who are not themselves constructors, while others are both teams and constructors (Ducati Corse, Scuderia Ferrari).
3. (object-oriented programming) A class method that creates and initializes each instance of an object.

Antonyms

• destructor

Hyponyms

• (object-oriented programming): copy constructor, default constructor, empty constructor, nullary constructor

Derived terms

• bioconstructor

 

Related terms

• (object-oriented programming): constructorless

Translations

one who constructs

• Bashkir: төҙөүсе (töźöwse)
• Belarusian: канстру́ктар m (kanstrúktar)
• Czech: konstruktér m
• Finnish: rakentaja (fi)
• Russian: констру́ктор (ru) m (konstrúktor), (builder) строи́тель (ru) m (stroítelʹ)
• Ukrainian: констру́ктор m (konstrúktor), (builder) будіве́льник (uk) m (budivélʹnyk)

in automotive: someone who builds racing vehicles

• Finnish: rakentaja (fi)
• French: écurie (fr) f

in object oriented programming: code that creates objects

• Bulgarian: констру́ктор (bg) m (konstrúktor)
• Czech: konstruktor m
• Esperanto: konstruilo
• Finnish: konstruktori, muodostin, rakentaja (fi)
• French: constructeur (fr) m
• German: Konstruktor (de) m
• Greek: κατασκευαστής (el) m (kataskevastís)
• Italian: costruttore (it) m
• Japanese: コンストラクタ (ja) (konsutorakuta), 構築子 (こうちくし, kōchikushi) (rare)
• Korean: 생성자(生成子) (saengseongja)
• Polish: konstruktor (pl) m
• Portuguese: construtor (pt) m
• Russian: констру́ктор (ru) m (konstrúktor)
• Swedish: konstruktor c
• Ukrainian: констру́ктор m (konstrúktor)
• Vietnamese: hàm khởi tạo

Further reading

• constructor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French constructeur.

Noun

constructor m (plural constructori)

1. constructor, builder

Declension

Declension of constructor

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) constructor	constructorul	(niște) constructori	constructorii
genitive/dative	(unui) constructor	constructorului	(unor) constructori	constructorilor
vocative	constructorule		constructorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin cōnstructor (“builder”), from Latin cōnstruere (“build, pile together”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konstɾuɡˈtoɾ/ [kõns.t̪ɾuɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: cons‧truc‧tor

Adjective

constructor (feminine constructora, masculine plural constructores, feminine plural constructoras)

1. constructing

Noun

constructor m (plural constructores, feminine constructora, feminine plural constructoras)

1. constructor, builder

Further reading

• “constructor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28