trace element

See synonyms for trace element on Thesaurus.com

nounBiochemistry.

any element that is required in minute quantities for physiological functioning.

Origin of trace element

First recorded in 1935–40

Also called trace mineral.

Words Nearby trace element

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use trace element in a sentence

In addition to light and water, microbes will need nitrogen, phosphorus, and a variety of trace elements which would be shipped from Earth, the study says.
Microbes could help us make rocket fuel on Mars | Leto Sapunar | November 4, 2021 | Popular-Science
The deepest, most remote parts of the ocean are so far removed from land that they receive very little terrestrial dust, and living organisms need a range of trace elements like iron in order to survive.
What Dust From Space Tells Us About Ourselves | Natalie Wolchover | February 4, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
They guaranteed it would have all the necessary ingredients, right down to the smallest trace element!
Islands of Space | John W Campbell

British Dictionary definitions for trace element

trace element

noun

any of various chemical elements, such as iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and iodine, that occur in very small amounts in organisms and are essential for many physiological and biochemical processes

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

Scientific definitions for trace element

trace element

[ trās ]

An element present in an organism in only very small amounts but essential for normal metabolism. Iodine and cobalt are trace elements required by humans.

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