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.

Leverage in the Middle East is thus an essential element of East Asian statecraft and broader Eurasian order.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

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

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

That essential element of his identity is presented as merely neutral fact, rather than the alienating circumstance it no doubt was.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2024

Not surprisingly, then, preventing arbitrary searches and seizures by the police was deemed by the Founding Fathers an essential element of the U.S.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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