element

Meanings

Noun

• One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
• A small part of the whole.
• A small but present amount of a quality, a hint.
• A factor, one of the conditions contributing to a result.
• The sky.
• Any one of the heavenly spheres believed to carry the celestial bodies.
• Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.
• A place or state of being that an individual or object is best suited to.
• The bread and wine taken at Holy Communion.
• A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.
• The basic principles of a field of knowledge, basics, fundamentals, rudiments.
• A component in electrical equipment, often in the form of a coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.
• An infinitesimal interval of a quantity, a differential.
• An orbital element; one of the parameters needed to uniquely specify a particular orbit.
• One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by tags.

Verb

• To compound of elements.
• To constitute and be the elements of.

Related

Similar words

• chemical element, firststuff (rare, nonstandard)
• member

Narrower meaning words

• chemical element
• data element
• heating element

Origin

• From Middle English element, from Old French element, from Latin elementum ("a first principle, element, rudiment") (see further etymology there).