Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - constellation

 noun  Etymology: Middle English constellacioun, from Anglo-French ~, from Late Latin ~-, constellatio, from Latin com- + stella star — more at star  Date: 14th century  1. the configuration of stars especially at one's birth  2. any of 88 arbitrary configurations of stars or an area of the celestial sphere covering one of these configurations  3. an assemblage, collection, or group of usually related persons, qualities, or things a ~ of…relatives, friends, and hangers-on — Brendan Gill a ~ of symptoms  4. pattern, arrangement taking advantage of the shifting ~ of power throughout the known world — H. D. Lasswell  • constellatory adjective