element

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. component, part, substance, constituent, ingredient; factor, principle, rudiment, fundamental. See cause, composition.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A part]

Syn. component, constituent, factor, ingredient, portion, particle, detail; see also part 1 .

2. [A form of matter]

Ancient science identified the following basic elements: earth, air, fire, water. Modern chemistry and physics identify the following elements: actinium (Ac), aluminum (Al), americium (Am), antimony (Sb), argon (Ar), arsenic (As), astatine (At), barium (Ba), berkelium (Bk), beryllium (Be), bismuth (Bi), boron (B), bromine (Br), cadmium (Cd), calcium (Ca), californium (Cf), carbon (C), cerium (Ce), cesium (Cs), chlorine (Cl), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), curium (Cm), dysprosium (Dy), einsteinium (Es), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), fermium (Fm), fluorine (F), francium (Fr), gadolinium (Gd), gallium (Ga), Germanium (Ge), gold (Au), hafnium (Hf), hassium (Hs), helium (He), holmium (Ho), hydrogen (H), indium (In), iodine (I), iridium (Ir), iron (Fe), krypton (Kr), lanthanum (La), lawrencium (Lr), lead (Pb), lithium (Li), lutetium (Lu), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), meitnerium (Mt), mendelevium (Md), mercury (Hg), molybdenum (Mo), neodymium (Nd), neon (Ne), neptunium (Np), nickel (Ni), nielsbohrium (Ns), niobium (Nb), nitrogen (N), nobelium (No), osmium (Os), oxygen (O), palladium (Pd), phosphorus (P), pLatinum (Pt), plutonium (Pu), polonium (Po), potassium (K), praseodymium (Pr), pRomethium (Pm), protactinium (Pa), radium (Ra), radon (Rn), rhenium (Re), rhodium (Rh), rubidium (Rb), ruthenium (Ru), rutherfordium (Rf), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), seaborgium (Sg), selenium (Se), silicon (Si), silver (Ag), sodium (Na), strontium (Sr), sulfur (S), tantalum (Ta), technetium (Tc), tellurium (Te), terbium (Tb), thallium (Tl), thorium (Th), thulium (Tm), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), uranium (U), vanadium (V), Xenon (Xe), ytterbium (Yb), yttrium (Y), zinc (Zn), zirconium (Zr); see atomic energy . Syn.- element , in its general use, is the broadest term for any of the basic, irreducible parts or principles of anything, concrete or abstract [ the elements of a science ] ; component and constituent both refer to any of the simple or compound parts of some complex thing or concept, but constituent also implies that the part is essential to the complex [ hemoglobin is a constituent of blood ] ; ingredient refers to any of the substances (sometimes nonessential) that are mixed together in preparing a food, medicine, etc. [ the ingredients of a cocktail ] ; factor applies to any of the component parts that are instrumental in determining the nature of the complex [ luck was a factor in his success ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

component, ingredient, constituent, unit, facet, bit, feature, piece, portion, section, item, factor.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. A fundamental irreducible constituent of a whole: basic, essential, fundamental, rudiment (often used in plural). Idiom: part and parcel. See PART. 2. One of the individual entities contributing to a whole: building block, component, constituent, factor, ingredient, integrant, part. See PART. 3. An individually considered portion of a whole: article, detail, item, particular, point. See PART.