element

EL-uh-muhnt/ˈɛləmənt/UKEL-i-muhnt/ˈɛlɪmənt/

23 meanings of element

1
nouncountable
A part or feature of something larger, especially one of its basic or essential parts.
Every element of the ceremony was planned down to the minute.
Critics praised individual elements of the film while faulting it as a whole.
UsageAn element of or in something: every element of the ceremony, a key element in a plan.
Similarpart, component, feature, aspect, detail
2
factornouncountable
A factor or condition that contributes to a particular result or outcome.
Weather proved a deciding element in the outcome of the battle.
Timing remains the most important element in any successful negotiation.
UsageOften with an adjective and in: the most important element in a negotiation.
Similarfactor, ingredient
3
nouncountable
Any of the basic chemical substances, such as oxygen, iron, or carbon, made of atoms with the same number of protons, that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.
Pure copper is an element, while bronze is a blend of several elements.
Helium, an element first detected in sunlight, is now used to fill balloons and cool magnets.
Note
The word covers both a kind of atom and the stuff made of it: a lump of pure sulfur and a single sulfur atom are each the element sulfur. Chemists say elementary substance when they need to make that distinction explicit. The test is chemical: no reaction breaks the substance into anything simpler.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Element can denote both a kind of atom and a pure substance consisting of that kind of atom. en.wikipedia.org
Both pure sulfur and an individual sulfur atom can be called the element sulfur. wtamu.edu
Elementary substance distinguishes the substance from the kind of atom. iom3.org
Chemical reactions cannot decompose an element into simpler substances. chemed.chem.purdue.edu
4
weathernounpluralwith the
The forces of the weather, especially wind, rain, and other harsh atmospheric conditions.
Centuries of exposure to the elements wore the statue's face smooth.
Sailors learn to respect the elements long before they learn to fight them.
UsageMostly in set phrases: exposed to the elements, protection from the elements.
Similarweather
5
group of peoplenouncountable
A section of people within a larger group, marked out by some characteristic they share.
Police blamed the vandalism on a criminal element within the protest.
The party's progressive element pushed for bolder reforms at the convention.
UsageUsually with a describing word: a criminal element, the hooligan element; it often suggests a troublesome fringe.
Similarfaction, wing, section, group, contingent
6
small hintnouncountable
A small but noticeable amount of a quality; a trace or hint.
An element of doubt crept into the jury's deliberations.
The ceremony retained an element of mystery despite all the cameras.
UsageUsually an element of + a quality: an element of doubt, truth or mystery.
Similarhint, trace, touch, degree, measure
Note
F. E. Penny's Pulling the Strings describes a murder case with "an element of mystery about it". The phrase hedges. It admits that the quality is present without claiming much of it, which separates it from a part of a whole.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
F. E. Penny wrote Pulling the Strings. en.wiktionary.org
The novel describes a murder case using the exact words quoted. en.wiktionary.org
7
ancient philosophynouncountable
One of the four basic constituents of matter (water, earth, fire, and air) in the theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists.
Greek physicians linked each element to one of the body's four humors.
Alchemists sought to balance the elements within a substance before attempting any transmutation.
Note
This sense keeps close to the Latin. Latin elementum meant "a first principle" or "rudiment," and water, earth, fire and air were treated as the first principles of all matter. Keep it apart from the chemical element: the classical four were principles of a theory, not pure substances you could isolate. The phrase being in one's element still carries the image of each creature at home in its own medium.
8
set membernouncountable
Any one of the distinct objects that together make up a set.
Seven is an element of the set of prime numbers.
The empty set contains no elements at all.
UsageAn element of a set; member means the same.
Similarmember
Note
Membership is the basic relation, written ∈, and nothing stops an element from being a set itself, with elements of its own.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Membership is the basic relation of set theory and is denoted by ∈. en.wikipedia.org
An element can itself be a set with its own elements. plato.stanford.edu

Less common meanings

9
natural placenoun
A place, situation, or state of being to which a person or thing is naturally suited.
Surrounded by old maps and rare books, the historian was in his element.
A city lawyer dropped onto a cattle ranch, he was completely out of his element.
UsageMostly in in your element (happy and at ease) and out of your element, with my, his, her and so on.
Note
The image goes back to the four classical elements, each creature having its proper one.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The image derives from the four classical elements, understood as creatures' natural media. gutenberg.org
10
subject basicsnounplural
The basic principles or rudiments of a field of knowledge; the fundamentals a learner masters first.
The course covers the elements of statistics before moving on to advanced modeling.
He picked up the elements of carpentry from his grandfather one summer.
UsageUsually the elements of a subject: the elements of grammar or statistics.
Similarbasics, fundamentals, rudiments, essentials, principles
Note
The Latin "rudiment" behind the word surfaces most plainly here. The title convention reaches back to Euclid's Elements, for centuries the model introductory textbook, and many introductory books are still called Elements of something.
11
heating coilnouncountable
A component in electrical equipment, often a coil of wire, whose high resistance causes it to give off heat when current passes through it.
The oven wouldn't heat because its bottom element had burned out.
Space heaters begin to glow once their elements reach full temperature.
12
raw materialnouncountable
Raw material; any fundamental substance that serves as the starting point for making something.
The potter's basic element is clay, which she digs from the riverbank behind her studio.
Wood and stone were the only elements the early settlers had for building their homes.
Similarmaterial, ingredient, substance, constituent
Note
Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great has friends whose hearts stay joined "until our bodies turn to elements". There the plural stands for the simple matter a body dissolves back into.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Christopher Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine the Great. gutenberg.org
The quoted plural refers to the basic substances into which bodies dissolve. en.wiktionary.org
13
web codenouncountable
In a markup language, one of the conceptual units of a document, typically marked off in the text by tags.
Each HTML element begins with an opening tag and usually ends with a closing tag.
The developer nested a list element inside the navigation section.
UsageKeep element apart from tag: and are two tags around one paragraph element.
Note
In markup, the element is the thing itself, and a tag is only how it is written: and are two tags around one paragraph element. Developers name elements by type, as in the div element or a list element. They also speak of elements nesting inside one another to build a page's structure.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
An element and the tags used to represent its boundaries are distinct things. html.spec.whatwg.org
 and are the start and end tags of a paragraph element. developer.mozilla.org
Elements can nest inside one another to form document structure. w3.org
14
legal requirementnouncountable
A required component of a legal claim or criminal offense, each of which must be proved for the claim or charge to succeed.
Intent is an element of most theft offenses.
The prosecution failed to prove one element of the charge, and the case collapsed.
UsageFollowed by of (an element of theft; the elements of a claim).
Note
The logic is all-or-nothing. If a single element fails, as when intent cannot be shown in a theft case, that claim or charge fails, however strong the proof of the rest.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Intent is a required element of theft. law.cornell.edu
15
matrix entrynouncountable
One of the entries of a matrix, identified by its row and column position.
The matrix had a zero element in its second row.
Multiplying two matrices means combining elements from rows and columns.
Similarentry
Note
In a matrix the word is positional. Each element sits at a particular row and column, so it is commonly written with two indices, as aᵢⱼ for row i and column j. A zero element in the second row, or the elements combined in matrix multiplication, are located this way rather than by their value.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Matrix elements occupy row and column positions, conventionally denoted by indices i and j in aᵢⱼ. openstax.org
An element's position, including when its value is zero, identifies its location and determines its role in matrix multiplication. openstax.org
16
calculusnouncountable
An infinitesimally small interval or portion of a quantity; a differential, written in forms such as dx.
Integration sums each element of area under the curve.
The physicist wrote the charge on a tiny element of the wire as dq.
Note
Calculus uses the word for the tiny piece an integral adds up. The element of area in Cartesian coordinates is dx dy, and a physicist writes the charge on a small element of wire as dq. The usual pattern is element of followed by the quantity, as in element of area, and the notation usually carries a d.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Integration adds up contributions from small elements, understood through a limiting process. feynmanlectures.caltech.edu
The Cartesian area element is dx dy. lemesurierb.people.charleston.edu
The charge on a small element of wire can be written dq. elearn.univ-tlemcen.dz
Such notation commonly contains d, but a volume element can also be denoted by ω. link.springer.com
17
zipper toothnouncountable
Any one of the small interlocking teeth that run along the two sides of a zipper.
The repair shop replaced a damaged element near the bottom of the zipper.
Metal elements on heavy-duty zippers outlast molded plastic ones.
Similartooth
18
Holy Communionnouncountable
The bread and wine consecrated and received at the celebration of Holy Communion.
The deacon carried the elements to the altar for the communion service.
Some churches teach that each element truly changes when it is consecrated.
Note
Christian traditions differ on what consecration does to the elements, and the plain word is useful because it commits to no doctrine.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Catholic teaching holds that consecration brings about transubstantiation. vatican.va
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church teaches that the elements remain bread and wine, illustrating the difference between traditions. opc.org
19
orbit measurenouncountable
Any one of the parameters needed to uniquely specify a particular orbit.
Eccentricity is the element that describes how elongated an orbit is.
Mission planners updated the satellite's elements after the engine burn.
Note
Astronomers usually say orbital element, and they treat a body's elements as a set. An engine burn can change their values and put the body into a different orbit. Eccentricity, which measures how elongated an orbit is, is one of them. The classical set has six, covering the orbit's size, shape and orientation and the body's position along its path.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
Orbital elements are treated as a set describing a body's orbit and state. ssd.jpl.nasa.gov
True anomaly changes as the body moves along the same orbit; changing an element does not necessarily change the orbital path. faa.gov
Engine burns can change an orbit. science.nasa.gov
Eccentricity is an orbital element measuring orbital elongation. science.nasa.gov
The six classical elements describe orbital size, shape, orientation and the body's location. faa.gov
20
nounobsolete
The sky, regarded as the region above the earth.
Sometimes, solitude is of all things my wish; and the awful silence of the night, the spangled element, and the rising and setting sun, how promotive of contemplation!
1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa
Note
A literary name for the sky that has dropped out of use. It still came naturally to Samuel Richardson in Clarissa (1747–48), where "the spangled element" is the starry night overhead. The use makes sense against the four classical elements, since the sky was pictured as the realm of air, or of the finer aether above it. Today it reads as a deliberate period touch. For the weather beating down from above, modern English uses the elements instead.
21
nounobsolete
Any of the concentric heavenly spheres believed, in premodern cosmology, to carry the sun, moon, planets, and stars around the Earth.
Note
An obsolete companion to the old "sky" sense. Where that sense meant the heavens as a whole, this one divides them into separate spheres that carry the moving bodies. It belongs only in accounts of premodern cosmology. In modern prose, "celestial sphere" or simply "sphere" is the clearer word.
22
verbobsoletetransitive
To compound or put together something out of its basic elements.
Dull ſublunary lovers love / (VVhoſe ſoule is ſenſe) cannot admit / Abſence, becauſe it doth remove / Thoſe things vvhich elemented it.
1611, J[ohn] Donne, “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”
Note
An old verb, going back to Middle English, that lives mostly in its past forms. Donne's "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" speaks of "those things which elemented it." Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist (1661) writes of "elemented bodies." To be elemented is to be built up out of elements, as matter was once thought to be built. The verb is obsolete, and modern English says composed or compounded instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 8 facts
The verb is older: Wiktionary traces it to Middle English elementen. en.wiktionary.org
John Donne wrote A Valediction Forbidding Mourning. web.english.upenn.edu
The poem contains the words those things which elemented it. web.english.upenn.edu
Robert Boyle wrote The Sceptical Chymist. gutenberg.org
The Sceptical Chymist was first published in 1661. gutenberg.org
The Sceptical Chymist contains the phrase elemented bodies. gutenberg.org
To be elemented means to be compounded from elements. en.wiktionary.org
Matter was historically thought to be composed of elements. gutenberg.org
23
verbobsoletetransitive
To constitute something; to be the elements out of which something is made.
His very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness.
1658, Izaak Walton, Life of Donne
Note
Here the elements themselves are the subject, or the construction is passive with of. Izaak Walton's Life of Donne, in its 1658 revision, says Donne's "very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness". Like the "compound from elements" verb, it is obsolete. It now sounds deliberately antique, which suits it to pastiche and makes it out of place in ordinary prose.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
It first appeared in 1640, prefixed to Donne's LXXX Sermons; 1658 was a revised, separate edition. en.wikisource.org
Izaak Walton wrote Life of Donne and described Donne's soul using the quoted words. anglicanhistory.org

Practice

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Origin

The word comes from Latin "elementum," meaning "a first principle, element, or rudiment," which passed through Old French "element" and Middle English "element." The verb comes from the Middle English noun.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

Element derives from Latin elementum through Old French element and Middle English element. en.wiktionary.org
Latin elementum means a first principle, element, or rudiment. en.wiktionary.org
The verb derives from the Middle English noun. en.wiktionary.org