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.
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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.
No, it was something a little more elemental.
From Salon
These tools sifted through data on elemental properties to uncover patterns and relationships that traditional simulations often miss.
From Science Daily
There is something elementally heavenly about the smell of alliums cooking in butter.
From Salon
“Pillion” is about self-fashioning at its most elemental: how gear and uniforms, roles and positions, can help you bloom into yourself; how in losing yourself in another you can find who you want to be.
From Los Angeles Times
Fire replaces water as the elemental character in James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
