essential element

British  

noun

1. 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

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Example Sentences

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

But if you say you’re fighting a war on behalf of a country’s oppressed people, it’s a good idea—in fact, it is an essential element of the war strategy—to think about this problem.

From Slate • 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

Earlier this fall, a group of faith leaders including priests and nuns were detained after being refused admission inside to administer communion, an essential element of a Catholic’s faith life.

From Salon • Nov. 16, 2025

To deny the individual agency of those caught up in the system—their capacity to overcome seemingly impossible odds—would be to deny an essential element of their humanity.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander