Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or determined by configuration: Pertaining to the specific arrangement or spatial organization of parts within a whole.
   • Characterized by a particular arrangement: Describing a property that arises from the way components are positioned relative to each other.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The chemist studied the configurational isomers of the molecule. (The chemist studied the isomers defined by the spatial arrangement of their atoms.)
  • The stability of the complex is a configurational property, not just a compositional one. (The stability depends on how the parts are arranged, not just what they are made of.)

Advanced Usage

• "Configurational entropy": A concept in thermodynamics and information theory referring to entropy associated with the number of possible spatial arrangements of a system's components.
  • The increase in configurational entropy drives the mixing of the two gases.
• "Configurational space": In physics and computer science, the abstract space representing all possible positions or states that a physical system can assume.
  • The algorithm searches the configurational space for the most stable structure.

Variants and Related Words

• Configuration (n): The particular arrangement or pattern of a group of related things.
  • The configuration of the furniture made the room feel spacious.
• Configure (v): To arrange or set up components in a particular way.
  • You need to configure the software settings before use.

Synonyms

• Structural: Relating to the arrangement of and relations between the parts of something.
• Conformational: Relating to the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule that can change by rotation about a single bond.

Antonyms

• Compositional: Relating to what something is made of, rather than how its parts are arranged.

Adjective

1. of or relating to or characterized by configuration