element has definitions from the fields of geography,mathematics,geometry,chemistry
1
[ noun ] an abstract part of something

Examples

: "jealousy was a component of his character" "two constituents of a musical composition are melody and harmony" "the grammatical elements of a sentence" "a key factor in her success" "an effective ingredient of a speech"

Used in print

(William G. Pollard, Physicist and Christian....)

The terms are generally taken_for_granted as though they referred to direct and axiomatic elements in the common experience of all .

For in the modern_world neither `` spirit '' nor `` matter '' refer to any generally agreed-upon elements of experience .

In it important elements of Christianity and of the Biblical view of reality in_general , which now cause us much difficulty , could be responded to quite naturally and spontaneously .

Science is fully competent to deal with any element of experience which arises from an object in space and time .

When , therefore , it turned its attention to the concrete entities with which popular imagination had peopled the world of spirit , these entities soon lost whatever status they had enjoyed as actual elements of external reality .

2
[ noun ] an artifact that is one of the individual parts of which a composite entity is made up; especially a part that can be separated from or attached to a system

Examples

: "spare components for cars" "a component or constituent element of a system"

Used in print

(Frank Getlein and Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., Movies,...)

The `` moving '' picture of the train or the wave coming at the audience is , to_be_sure , more intense than a still picture of the same subject , but the difference is really one of degree ; the cinematic element of time is merely used to increase the realism of an object which would still be reasonably realistic in a still photo .

(Kenneth Hoffman and Ray Kunze, Linear Al...)

If ( remember this is an assumption ) the minimal polynomial for T decomposes * * f where * * f are distinct elements of F , then we shall show that the space V is the direct_sum of the null_spaces of * * f .

(Clement Greenberg, "Collage" in his Art and...)

The affixed elements of collage were extruded , as_it_were , and cut_off from the literal pictorial surface to form a bas-relief .

3
[ noun ] (chemistry) any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter

Synonyms

chemical_element

Used in print

(1961 Research Highlights of the National Bureau of...)

This apparatus will also be used to measure transition probabilities of a large_number of other elements .

A set of tables containing spectral intensities for 39000 lines of 70 elements , as observed in a copper matrix in a d-c arc , was completed and published .

Research continues on the very complex spectra of the rare_earth elements .

4
[ noun ] (geography) the most favorable environment for a plant or animal

Examples

"water is the element of fishes"

Used in print

(Douglas Ashford, "Elections in Morocco: Progress...)

In late 1957 the M.P. ( Mouvement_Populaire ) appeared and in the spring of 1958 the internal strains of the Istiqlal was revealed when the third Council_of_Government under Balafrej was formed without support from progressive elements in the party .

Related terms

environment

5
[ noun ] the situation in which you are happiest and most effective

Examples

"in your element"

Related terms

situation

6
[ noun ] one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe

Examples

"the alchemists believed that there were four elements"

7
[ noun ] (mathematics,geometry) a straight line that generates a cylinder or cone
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