- element
- element, component, constituent, ingredient, factor are comparable when they mean one of the parts, substances, or principles which make up a compound or complex thing.Element is, except in its specific sense in science, the most widely applicable of these terms, being referable both to material and immaterial and to tangible and intangible things{
the native and foreign elements in English
}{words are the elements of a sentence
}{the basic element of his character
}{his life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world "This was a man!"— Shak.
}Always in its scientific sense, often in its general sense, the term implies irreducible simplicity or, if applied to a substance, incapacity for separation into simpler substances{gold, silver, carbon, lead are among the chemical elements, or ultimate building units of matter
}{analyze the elements of a situation
}{another element common to all novels is characterization— Jacobs
}Component and constituent are often used interchangeably for any of the substances (whether elements or compounds) which enter into the makeup of a mixed thing or for any of the principles or qualities which comprise an intangible composite.Component, however, stresses the separate identity or distinguishable character of the substance; constituent stresses its essential and formative character{springs, gears, levers, pivots, and other components of a watch mechanism
}{hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water
}{the components of the typical novel are its plot, its characters, and its setting
}{the components of knowledge can never be harmonized until all the relevant facts are in— De Voto
}{break a ray of light into the colors which are its constituents
}{the constituents of a perfume
}Ingredient applies basically to any of the substances or materials which when combined form a particular mixture (as a drink, a medicine, a food, an alloy, or an amalgam){the ingredients of a cocktail
}{iron and carbon are the ingredients of steel
}The term, however, may be extended to any component or constituent that can be thought of as added or as left out{in this transaction every ingredient of a complete and legitimate contract is to be found— John Marshall
}{two very necessary ingredients of the scientific process are curiosity and lack of haste— Sears
}Factor is somewhat remotely synonymous with the foregoing words. The term is applicable to a constituent, element, or component only when the latter exerts an effectuating force enabling the whole of which it is a part to perform a certain kind of work, to produce a specific and definite result, or to move or trend in a particular direction{God ... is not one of the factors for which science has to account— Inge
}{various factors entered the inception of the American enterprise— Ellis
}{the word vitamins was coined to designate these essential food factors— Morrison
}Antonyms: compound (in science): composite
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
