immediate constituent

noun, Grammar
1.
one of the usually two largest constituents of a construction: The immediate constituents of He ate his dinner are he and ate his dinner; of ate his dinner are ate and his dinner; etc.
Abbreviation: IC.
Origin
1930-35
British Dictionary definitions for immediate constituent

immediate constituent

noun
1.
a constituent of a linguistic construction at the first step in an analysis; for example, the immediate constituents of a sentence are the subject and the predicate