When people talk about components they may be referring to a number of different things but one of these things is the most popular and accepted definition that people think they are talking about.

The term components is also used to describe some very vague and unique concepts which most people who are not in the scientific field are unaware about.

See also

• Component Standard Definition
• Other Definitions of Components

The standard definitions

Your steering wheel is a component in the larger system of your car.

The leg of a table may be a component in the larger system which makes up the table.

Anything else that follows this logical pattern is true to the standard definition of what the term components is all about.

The word components may mean other different things as well which may seem extremely dissimilar to the established standard concept that most people are used to. This variation in existing definitions usually takes place within the scientific field.

• An element of a composite type.
• A product that is not decomposed - from the perspective of the current application.
• A video transmission that continuously separates the three video lines: one for luminance and the two remaining for color. The cable is typically represented by three separate connectors, Red, Green & Blue

These are all different definitions of the same word and a whole lot more exist as well depending on the particular context that you are interested in. Most of these concepts are inherently scientific but the word components surprisingly appear in literature and this definition is as follows. Components: an abstract part of something; “jealousy was a component of his character”