A trace element is a chemical element such as iron or zinc that occurs in very small amounts in living things and is necessary for normal growth and development.
2. countable noun
A trace element is a very small amount of a chemical element that is found in a metal or other substance.
trace element in British English
noun
any of various chemical elements, such as iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and iodine, that occur in very small amounts in organisms and are essential for many physiological and biochemical processes
trace element in American English
1.
a chemical element, as iron, copper, zinc, etc., essential in plant and animal nutrition, but only in minute quantities
2.
any element present in minute quantities in an organism, soil, water, etc.
Examples of 'trace element' in a sentence
trace element
Why should we be low in this important trace element mineral?
Chaitow, Leon Body Odour (1994)
Suffice it to say that for most people food is the most important source of trace elements.
Stanway, Dr Andrew Miracle Micronutrients (1987)
Manganese is an essential trace element required by the brain and nervous system.
Martlew, Gillian & Silver, Shelley (ed) The Medicine Chest - your family's guide to prescription drugs (1988)
It is probable that in years to come other essential trace elements will emerge.
Mumby, Keith The Allergy Handbook (1988)
And the algae contain all the trace elements essential to animal and man.
Thompkins, Peter, Bird, Christopher Secrets of the Soil (1990)
Zinc is a trace element which is necessary for a wide range of chemical reactions in the body.
MacIntyre, Anne M. E. Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome - How To Live With It (1989)
Most of our foods today are processed somehow or other but the most dramatic losses of trace elements occur during refining.
Stanway, Dr Andrew Miracle Micronutrients (1987)
During childhood and adolescence there is an increased need for many of the trace elements because they are essential for growth.
Stanway, Dr Andrew Miracle Micronutrients (1987)
Zinc Zinc is one of the most important trace elements in man.
Chaitow, Leon The Beat Fatigue Workbook - how to identify the causes (1988)
Table 1 shows how much of various trace elements we need and how much we get.
Stanway, Dr Andrew Miracle Micronutrients (1987)
As with many other trace elements, absorption is very poor, especially from tablets.
Stanway, Dr Andrew Miracle Micronutrients (1987)
Copper Although in small quantities copper is an essential trace element, it can be toxic in large quantities.
Ridgway, Roy Caring for your Unborn Child (1990)
This latter is foolish because, as we have seen already, many of the trace elements compete with each other in the intestine.