A Quick and Simple Dictionary

element

1. Noun.  One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
2. Noun.  (chemistry) Any one of the simplest chemical substances that cannot be decomposed in a chemical reaction or by any chemical means and made up of atoms all having the same number of protons.
3. Noun.  One of the four basic building blocks of matter in theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists: water, earth, fire, and air.
4. Noun.  Something small.
5. Noun.  (pluralonly) Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.
6. Noun.  A place or state of being that an individual or object is better suited towards.
7. Noun.  (legal) A required aspect or component of a cause of action. A deed is regarded a violation of law only if each element can be proved.
8. Noun.  (set theory) One of the objects in a set.
9. Noun.  A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.
10. Noun.  A short form of heating element, a component in electrical equipment, often in the form of a coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.
11. Noun.  (computing) One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by a matching pair of tags.