essential element

British

noun

biochem any chemical element required by an organism for healthy growth. It may be required in large amounts (macronutrient) or in very small amounts (trace element) See also macronutrient trace element

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Petroleum is an essential element in modern industry, whether used as a fuel, a lubricant or an ingredient in plastics and chemicals.

From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026

It includes Sontag’s “Notes on ‘Camp,’” among whose 58 numbered observations is: “In naïve, or pure, Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

If we give up on the courts, we’re going to take away a really essential element of our ability to be Americans.

From Slate • Aug. 4, 2025

Regardless of its root cause, at the heart of every great haunting is one essential element that Los Angeles has always had in spades: great storytellers.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2024

This was a reminder that an essential element of surveillance was disappearing into the background.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023