elemental
Americanadjective
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of the nature of an ultimate constituent; simple; uncompounded.
-
pertaining to rudiments or first principles.
-
starkly simple, primitive, or basic.
a spare, elemental prose style; hate, lust, and other elemental emotions.
-
pertaining to the agencies, forces, or phenomena of physical nature.
elemental gods.
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comparable to the great forces of nature, as in power or magnitude.
elemental grandeur.
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of, relating to, or of the nature of the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, or of any one of them.
-
pertaining to chemical elements.
adjective
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fundamental; basic; primal
the elemental needs of man
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motivated by or symbolic of primitive and powerful natural forces or passions
elemental rites of worship
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of or relating to earth, air, water, and fire considered as elements
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of or relating to atmospheric forces, esp wind, rain, and cold
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of, relating to, or denoting a chemical element
noun
Other Word Forms
- elementalism noun
- elementally adverb
- nonelemental adjective
- nonelementally adverb
- postelemental adjective
- preelemental adjective
- subelemental adjective
- subelementally adverb
- transelemental adjective
- unelemental adjective
- unelementally adverb
Etymology
Origin of elemental
From the Medieval Latin word elementālis, dating back to 1485–95. See element, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Earlier studies on Rapa Nui relied on indicators such as pollen, plant remains, elemental chemistry, and how quickly sediments built up to infer past environmental changes.
From Science Daily
While apart, their working lives — his at sea, hers on land — speak to a confluence of the elemental and the man-made.
From Los Angeles Times
I felt as though I were caught in a different dimension where death was as present as life, and everything was elemental and terrifying.
From Literature
Voting is the most elemental of democratic exercises, a virtuous act residing right up there alongside motherhood and apple pie.
From Los Angeles Times
No, it was something a little more elemental.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
