elemental
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of, or about a force of nature.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehluhmehntuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛləˈmɛntəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
chemistry
Of, relating to, or being an element (as opposed to a compound).
by extension
Of, or relating to a force of nature, especially to severe atmospheric conditions.
“A race against hail or cold rains or some other elemental catastrophe"- J.K.Howard.”
Of the ancient supposed elements of earth, air, fire and water.
Basic, fundamental or elementary.
noun
mysticismfantasy
A creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water or variations of them like ice, lightning, etc. They sometimes have unique proper names and sometimes are referred to as Air, Earth, Fire, or Water.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of, relating to, or being an element (as opposed to a compound).
Used this way, elemental is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use elemental
- “A race against hail or cold rains or some other elemental catastrophe"- J.K.Howard.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to of or pertaining to or characteristic of elementary school or elementary education.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.