elemental

[el-uh-men-tl]

adjective

1. of the nature of an ultimate constituent; simple; uncompounded.

2. pertaining to rudiments or first principles.

3. starkly simple, primitive, or basic.

   a spare, elemental prose style; hate, lust, and other elemental emotions.

4. pertaining to the agencies, forces, or phenomena of physical nature.

   elemental gods.

5. comparable to the great forces of nature, as in power or magnitude.

   elemental grandeur.

6. of, relating to, or of the nature of the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, or of any one of them.

7. pertaining to chemical elements.

elemental

/ ˌɛlɪˈmɛntəl /

adjective

1. fundamental; basic; primal

   the elemental needs of man

2. motivated by or symbolic of primitive and powerful natural forces or passions

   elemental rites of worship

3. of or relating to earth, air, water, and fire considered as elements

4. of or relating to atmospheric forces, esp wind, rain, and cold

5. of, relating to, or denoting a chemical element

noun

1. rare,  a spirit or force that is said to appear in physical form

Other Word Forms

• elementally adverb
• nonelemental adjective
• nonelementally adverb
• postelemental adjective
• preelemental adjective
• subelemental adjective
• subelementally adverb
• transelemental adjective
• unelemental adjective
• unelementally adverb
• elementalism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of elemental¹

From the Medieval Latin word elementālis, dating back to 1485–95. See element, -al ¹

Example Sentences

Just don’t expect anything about this elemental contest to be explained to you, or even contextualized.

From Los Angeles Times

"You've just murdered a sentinel of time and elemental spirit of Northumberland," he raged on social media.

From BBC

The skeletal score by Carlos Alfonso Corral, who doubles as the film’s cinematographer, hints at an elemental menace just over the horizon.

From Los Angeles Times

Tomato and egg is a culinary truth, one of those elemental pairings that shows up across cultures not because anyone decided it should, but because it just makes sense.

From Salon

"They can continue their journey and that journey is to de-compose, to become elemental again and their spirit allowed to travel on," he said.

From BBC

Related Words

• elementary