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Detail vs Element - What's the difference?

detail | element |

As nouns the difference between detail and element

is that detail is detail while element is element (part of a whole).

detail

English

Noun

  • (countable) Something small enough to escape casual notice.
  • (uncountable) A profusion of details.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail , a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
  • Something considered trivial enough to ignore.
  • (countable) A person's name, address and other personal information.
  • (military) A temporary unit or assignment.
  • A part distinct from the whole.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
  • A narrative which relates minute points; an account which dwells on particulars.
  • Synonyms

    * (something considered trivial enough to ignore) technicality, trifle, triviality * (personal information) particulars * contingent, detachment

    Derived terms

    * in detail * detail-oriented

    See also

    * overview * bird's-eye view * big picture

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to explain in detail
  • I'll detail the exact procedure to you later.
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
  • It is a sunny morning in Amman and the three uniformed judges in Jordan’s state security court are briskly working their way through a pile of slim grey folders on the bench before them. Each details the charges against 25 or so defendants accused of supporting the fighters of the Islamic State (Isis), now rampaging across Syria and Iraq under their sinister black banners and sending nervous jitters across the Arab world.
  • (US (?)) to clean carefully (particularly a car) ()
  • We need to have the minivan detailed .
  • (military) to assign to a particular task
  • Derived terms

    * detailing

    Synonyms

    * (to explain in detail) specify * detach

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms ----

    element

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
  • * (Benjamin Jowett) (1817-1893) ((Thucydides))
  • The simplicity which is so large an element in a noble nature was laughed to scorn.
  • # (label) Any one of the simplest chemical substances that cannot be decomposed in a chemical reaction or by any chemical means and made up of atoms all having the same number of protons.
  • # One of the four basic building blocks of matter in theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists: water, earth, fire, and air.
  • # (label) A required aspect or component of a cause of action. A deed is regarded a violation of law only if each element can be proved.
  • # (label) One of the objects in a set.
  • A small part of the whole.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
  • Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.
  • A place or state of being that an individual or object is better suited towards.
  • The bread and wine taken at Holy Communion.
  • A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.
  • A short form of heating element, a component in electrical equipment, often in the form of a coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.
  • (label) One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by a matching pair of tags.
  • * 2011 , Richard Wagner, Creating Web Pages All-in-One For Dummies
  • The div element was introduced into HTML as a solution to the layout problem.

    Synonyms

    * (in chemistry) chemical element * (in set theory) member

    Derived terms

    * chemical element * data element * heating element

    See also

    * atom