elemental
Americanadjective
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of the nature of an ultimate constituent; simple; uncompounded.
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pertaining to rudiments or first principles.
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starkly simple, primitive, or basic.
a spare, elemental prose style; hate, lust, and other elemental emotions.
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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
Etymology
Origin of elemental
From the Medieval Latin word elementālis, dating back to 1485–95. See element, -al 1
Vocabulary lists containing elemental
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.
She collects material from other places, too, like dirt from her daughter’s preschool yard or sand from local beaches — anything elemental that “will really alchemize and change form in the kiln.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The seventh song, Yeah, is a textbook example of tension and release in pop music - that strips the idea down to its most elemental form.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
What survives in the ashes of McCarthy’s fable is the elemental love that bonds a parent and a child.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Even if you never bore witness to that outrageous performance, its elemental alchemy vibrates in the band’s most popular songs, each of them calling to us with purpose.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
The serpent was more than a creature; it seemed like a living monument, as eternal and elemental as a mountain range.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
