This paper is devoted to the analysis of the conceptual interplay between the principle of compositionality (PC) and the claim that meaning is molecular rather than holistic. I first argue that some sort of molecularity thesis being true is a necessary condition for arguments in favor of the principle of compositionality to make sense. Then I propose a formal characterization of molecularity which aims at taking into account the way it interacts with compositionality, as captured by Hodges setting, to (help) explain our mastery of language.
