essential element

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Petroleum is an essential element in modern industry, whether used as a fuel, a lubricant or an ingredient in plastics and chemicals.

From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026

But if you say you’re fighting a war on behalf of a country’s oppressed people, it’s a good idea—in fact, it is an essential element of the war strategy—to think about this problem.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

It includes Sontag’s “Notes on ‘Camp,’” among whose 58 numbered observations is: “In naïve, or pure, Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

Regardless of its root cause, at the heart of every great haunting is one essential element that Los Angeles has always had in spades: great storytellers.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2024

This was a reminder that an essential element of surveillance was disappearing into the background.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti