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. • Any one of the types of atom distinguished by having a certain number of protons in its nucleus. • A chemical substance made entirely of one such type of atom; 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. • One of the four basic building blocks of matter in theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists: water, earth, fire, and air. • A basic, simple substance out of which something is made, raw material. • A required aspect or component of a cause of action. A deed is regarded as a violation of law only if each element can be proved. • One of the objects in a set. • One of the entries of a matrix. • Any of the teeth of a zip fastener. • A small part of the whole. • A small but present amount of a quality, a hint. • A factor, one of the conditions contributing to a result. • The sky. • Any one of the heavenly spheres believed to carry the celestial bodies in premodern cosmology. • Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains. • A place or state of being that a person or object is best suited to. • The bread and wine taken at Holy Communion. • A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic. • The basic principles of a field of knowledge, basics, fundamentals, rudiments. • 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. • An infinitesimal interval of a quantity, a differential. • An orbital element; one of the parameters needed to uniquely specify a particular orbit. • One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by tags.