Table of Contents
Definition of Constant
(noun) A characteristic or value that does not change across an observation.
Example of Constant
- Students are given 10 minutes to take the same test, the time limit is the constant, their performance is the variable.
Constant Pronunciation
Syllabification: con·stant
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /kAHn-stuhnt/
- British English – /kOn-stuhnt/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈkɑnstənt/
- British English – /ˈkɒnstənt/
Usage Notes
- Plural: constants
- Constant is the opposite of variable.
Additional Information
- Qualitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “constant” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- attribute
- cohort
- control group
- correlation
- data
- dependent variable
- negative correlation
- positive correlation
- random sample
- statistical analysis
- statistics
Contributor: C. E. Seaman
Works Consulted
Babbie, Earl. 2013. The Practice of Social Research. 13th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bryman, Alan. 2012. Social Research Methods. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burdess, Neil. 2010. Starting Statistics: A Short, Clear Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Cramer, Duncan, and Dennis Howitt. 2004. The SAGE Dictionary of Statistics: A Practical Resource for Students in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Fioramonti, Lorenzo. 2014. How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics. London: Zed Books.
Larson, Ron, and Elizabeth Farber. 2015. Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Salkind, Neil J., ed. 2007. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Weinstein, Jay A. 2010. Applying Social Statistics: An Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning in Sociology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Constant
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2014. “constant.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Retrieved February 9, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/constant/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
Seaman, C. E. (2014). constant. In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/constant/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2014. “constant.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/constant/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
Seaman, C. E. “constant.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/constant/>.