Definition of: element

(el′ə·mənt) noun
1. A component or essential part; especially, a simple part of anything complex; a constituent; ingredient.
2. plural First principles or fundamental ideas; rudiments.
3. Eccl. The bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.
4. An ultimate and essential principle in the make–up of anything; essential constituent; anciently, one of the substances
—earth, air, fire, and water
—supposed to make up all things: still in popular use: the fury of the elements, the devouring element.
5. The natural sphere or environment: The element of fishes is water.
6. Physics One of a limited number of substances each of which is composed entirely of atoms having an invariant nuclear charge and none of which may be decomposed by ordinary chemical means, as gold, carbon, sodium, etc. See Table, page 408.
7. One of the primary parts of an organism; also, a cell or morphological unit.
8. One of a number of parts composing a symmetrical whole.
9. Geom. One of the forms or data which together compose a figure, as a line, a point, a plane, a space.
10. Math. a An infinitely small portion of a magnitude; a generatrix. b A term in an algebraic expression.
11. One of the dissimilar substances in a voltaic cell or battery, etc.
12. A group or class of people distinguished from a larger group to which it belongs by its own peculiar beliefs, attitudes, behavior, etc.: the conservative element in the party; a rowdy element in the crowd. See synonyms under PART, PARTICLE.
—to be in one's element To be in pleasing surroundings or be engaged in activities in which one excels. [<L elementum first principle]