Word.ws English Dictionary

composture

UK/kəmˈpɒst͡ʃə/US/kəmˈpɑst͡ʃɚ/

composture noun: compost, composted manure.

Noun

composture (countable and uncountable, plural compostures)

  1. (obsolete) Compost, composted manure.
    • The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
      The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief,
      That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen
      From general excrement, each thing's a thief.1607, Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act 4 Scene 3
  2. (obsolete) Composition, makeup, formation.
  3. (obsolete) A kind of plaster.

Forms of composture

pluralcompostures

Origin of composture

Borrowed from Middle French composture (“compost”), from late Old French composture, possibly from Latin compositūra, compostūra (“composition”); equivalent to compost + -ure. Compare Portuguese compostura, Spanish compostura.

Questions about composture

What does composture mean?
Composture means compost, composted manure.
What part of speech is composture?
Composture is a noun.
How do you pronounce composture?
Composture is pronounced /kəmˈpɒst͡ʃə/ (UK).
What is the plural of composture?
The plural of composture is compostures.

Words near composture in the dictionary

  1. composters
  2. composting
  3. compostings
  4. compostlike
  5. composts
  6. composture
  7. compostures
  8. composty
  9. composure
  10. composures
  11. compot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: composture (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “composture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/composture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.