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   Com·pose

   /kəmˈpōz/

   

   verb

   • 1. write or create (a work of art, especially music or poetry): "he composed the First Violin Sonata four years earlier" Similar writecreatedevisemake upthink upframeformulatefashionproduceoriginateinventcontriveconcoctpenauthordraftliterary:rhymesingversearchaic:indite
   • ▪ write or phrase (a letter or piece of writing) with care and thought: "the first sentence is so hard to compose"
   • ▪ form (a whole) by ordering or arranging the parts, especially in an artistic way: "compose and draw a still life" Similar designarrangeplanorganizework outframebalanceordermap outconstructput togethershapeformconcoct
   • ▪ order or arrange (parts) to form a whole, especially in an artistic way: "make an attempt to compose your images"
   • 2. (of elements) constitute or make up (a whole): "the system is composed of a group of machines" Similar make upconstituteformcomprise
   • ▪ be (a specified number or amount) of a whole: "women compose 49 percent of that group"
   • 3. calm or settle (oneself or one's features or thoughts): "she tried to compose herself"
   • ▪ settle (a dispute): archaic "the king, with some difficulty, composed this difference"
   • 4. prepare (a text) for printing by manually, mechanically, or electronically setting up the letters and other characters in the order to be printed: "in offices where close-set text was composed both men and women pieceworkers were normally employed"
   • ▪ set up (letters and characters) of a text in preparation for printing.

   Word Origin late Middle English (in the general sense ‘put together, construct’): from Old French composer, from Latin componere (see component), but influenced by Latin compositus ‘composed’ and Old French poser ‘to place’.

   Scrabble Points: 13

   • C

     3

   • O

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   • M

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   • P

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   • O

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   • S

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   • E

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