The word essential definition

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es·sen·tial

 (ĭ-sĕn′shəl)

adj.

1. Constituting or being part of the nature or essence of something; inherent: «In that era of general good will … few Americans doubted the essential goodness of their society» (David Halberstam).

2. Fundamentally important or necessary: essential ingredients. See Synonyms at indispensable.

3. Medicine Of, relating to, or being a condition or a disease whose cause is unknown: essential hypertension.

4. Biochemistry Being a substance that is required for normal functioning but cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be included in the diet: essential amino acids.

n.

1. Something fundamental.

2. Something necessary or indispensable.

---

es·sen′ti·al′i·ty (-shē-ăl′ĭ-tē), es·sen′tial·ness n.

es·sen′tial·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

essential

(ɪˈsɛnʃəl)

adj

1. vitally important; absolutely necessary

2. basic; fundamental: the essential feature.

3. completely realized; absolute; perfect: essential beauty.

4. (Biochemistry) biochem (of an amino acid or a fatty acid) necessary for the normal growth of an organism but not synthesized by the organism and therefore required in the diet

5. (Botany) derived from or relating to an extract of a plant, drug, etc: an essential oil.

6. (Logic) logic (of a property) guaranteed by the identity of the subject; necessary. Thus, if having the atomic number 79 is an essential property of gold, nothing can be gold unless it has that atomic number

7. (Music, other) music denoting or relating to a note that belongs to the fundamental harmony of a chord or piece

8. (Pathology) pathol (of a disease) having no obvious external cause: essential hypertension.

9. (Geological Science) geology (of a mineral constituent of a rock) necessary for defining the classification of a rock. Its absence alters the rock’s name and classification

n

10. something fundamental or indispensable: a sharp eye is an essential for a printer.

11. (Music, other) music an essential note

essentiality, esˈsentialness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

es•sen•tial

(əˈsɛn ʃəl)

adj.

1. absolutely necessary; indispensable.

2. pertaining to or constituting the essence of a thing.

3. noting or containing an essence of a plant, drug, etc.

4. being such by its very nature or in the highest sense; natural; spontaneous: essential happiness.

5. not associated with an underlying disease: essential hypertension.

n.

6. a basic, indispensable, or necessary element; chief point.

[1300–50; Middle English essencial < Medieval Latin essenciālis, for Late Latin essentiālis]

es•sen′tial•ly, adv.

es•sen′tial•ness, n.

syn: essential, inherent, intrinsic refer to that which is in the natural composition of a thing. essential suggests that which is in the very essence or constitution of a thing: Quiet is essential in a public library. inherent means inborn or fixed from the beginning as a permanent quality or constituent of a thing: properties inherent in iron. intrinsic implies belonging to the nature of a thing itself and comprised within it, without regard to external considerations or accidentally added properties: the intrinsic value of diamonds. See also necessary.

Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	essential — anything indispensable; «food and shelter are necessities of life»; «the essentials of the good life»; «allow farmers to buy their requirements under favorable conditions»; «a place where the requisites of water fuel and fodder can be obtained» necessary, requisite, necessity, requirement thing — a separate and self-contained entity desideratum — something desired as a necessity; «the desiderata for a vacation are time and money» must — a necessary or essential thing; «seat belts are an absolute must» need, want — anything that is necessary but lacking; «he had sufficient means to meet his simple needs»; «I tried to supply his wants» inessential, nonessential — anything that is not essential; «they discarded all their inessentials»
Adj.	1.	essential — absolutely necessary; vitally necessary; «essential tools and materials»; «funds essential to the completion of the project»; «an indispensable worker» indispensable necessary — absolutely essential
	2.	essential — basic and fundamental; «the essential feature» crucial, important — of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis; «a crucial moment in his career»; «a crucial election»; «a crucial issue for women» indispensable — not to be dispensed with; essential; «foods indispensable to good nutrition» unexpendable — not suitable to be expended important, of import — of great significance or value; «important people»; «the important questions of the day» intrinsic, intrinsical — belonging to a thing by its very nature; «form was treated as something intrinsic, as the very essence of the thing»- John Dewey necessary — absolutely essential primary — of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary; «primary goals»; «a primary effect»; «primary sources»; «a primary interest» inessential, unessential — not basic or fundamental
	3.	essential — of the greatest importance; «the all-important subject of disarmament»; «crucial information»; «in chess cool nerves are of the essence» all important, all-important, of the essence, crucial important, of import — of great significance or value; «important people»; «the important questions of the day»
	4.	essential — being or relating to or containing the essence of a plant etc; «essential oil»
	5.	essential — defining rights and duties as opposed to giving the rules by which rights and duties are established; «substantive law» substantive law, jurisprudence — the collection of rules imposed by authority; «civilization presupposes respect for the law»; «the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order»

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

essential

adjective

1. vital, important, needed, necessary, critical, crucial, key, indispensable, requisite, vitally important It is absolutely essential that we find this man quickly.
vital unnecessary, trivial, unimportant, inessential

2. fundamental, main, basic, radical, key, principal, constitutional, cardinal, inherent, elementary, innate, intrinsic, elemental, immanent Two essential elements must be proven: motive and opportunity.
fundamental extra, secondary, surplus, accessory, lesser, optional, incidental, superfluous, extraneous, expendable, dispensable, nonessential

noun

1. prerequisite, principle, fundamental, necessity, must, basic, requisite, vital part, sine qua non (Latin), rudiment the essentials of everyday life, such as food and water

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

essential

adjective

1. Constituting or forming part of the essence of something:

2. Of or being an irreducible element:

3. Incapable of being dispensed with:

noun

1. A fundamental irreducible constituent of a whole:

2. Something indispensable:

The American Heritage® Roget’s Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

جَوْهَر، شَيءٌ أساسيجَوْهَري، أساسيضَرُورِيّ

nezbytnýpodstatazásadníesenceesenciální

essentielgrundliggende elementnødvendignødvendighed

olulinevajalik

välttämätönelintärkeänormaalioleellinenolennainen

ključno

grundvallaratriîinauîsynlegur

最も重要な

근본적인

būtinasbūtiniausias dalykas

būtisksnepieciešamspamatspirmās nepieciešamības priekšmets

bistven

väsentlig

ซึ่งสำคัญ

thiết yếu

Collins Spanish Dictionary — Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

essential

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

essential

(iˈsenʃəl) adjective

absolutely necessary. Strong boots are essential for mountaineering; It is essential that you arrive punctually.

noun

a thing that is fundamental or necessary. Everyone should learn the essentials of first aid; Is a television set an essential?

esˈsentially adverb

basically. She is an essentially selfish person.

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

essential

→ ضَرُورِيّ nezbytný essentiel wesentlich ουσιαστικός esencial välttämätön essentiel ključno essenziale 最も重要な 근본적인 essentieel vesentlig zasadniczy essencial существенный väsentlig ซึ่งสำคัญ zorunlu thiết yếu 必要的

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

es·sen·tial

a. esencial, indispensable.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

All the special interest mistresses are there — from Miss December the homemaker to Miss July, who gives a whole new meaning to the term essential oil. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Although in strictly speaking, the term essential oil is in reference to the aromatic value of the oils alone. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Those groups, he said, require what they call «essential» patents to be licensed on a fair and reasonable basis—which weakens their potency because holders of such patents can’t ask for injunctions that would stop use of their technology altogether. ❋ Don Clark (2011)

In one he’d questioned the word «essential» in «The Essential Kenny Loggins» greatest-hits album; in the other, he riffed that Bernard Madoff’s lawyers were having a hard time unloading an apartment shaped like a pyramid. ❋ Lizzie Simon (2011)

SEE Change, notes author Erik Assadourian, a Worldwatch Institute staff researcher, is a «celebration of sustainable growth, a term essential to a business model in which corporations depend radically on consistent quarterly rises in profits to keep shareholders from fleeing.» ❋ Unknown (2008)

No program at all for what we call essential workers, the lesser skilled workers, workers that have less than a bachelor’s degree. ❋ Unknown (2007)

S. O’BRIEN: You have what you call the essential energy booster. ❋ Unknown (2006)

It’s a four — day weekend for all but what they call essential — critically essential personnel, maybe national security people, emergency people. ❋ Unknown (2003)

D’Oliveira said affirmative action in the appointment of prosecutors, which he described as essential, was not judiciously applied. ❋ Unknown (2001)

KELLY: OK, if an employee, the guts of the employee’s job, what we call the essential work functions of someone’s job requires them to get on an airplane to do their job and they won’t do it, they can lose their job, not because the employer is a creep who says I don’t really care that you’re scared, but because what’s the employer supposed to do? ❋ Unknown (2001)

That this is the teaching of those great theologians is evident partly from their explicit declarations concerning the sacrament of marriage, and partly from what they defined as the essential element of the Sacraments of the New Law in general. ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)

In that address President Jefferson sets forth instructively what he terms the essential principles of government, and those upon which, as he conceives, his own administration was founded and by which it was guided. ❋ Edward Sylvester Ellis (1878)

That is part of what he called an essential public conversation that must precede any tax increase. ❋ Unknown (2011)

The board praised what it called the «essential values that drive his candidacy: honor and old-fashioned decency and pragmatism.» ❋ Unknown (2012)

Dr. Brundtland cited a lack of running water in hospitals, even in maternity and pediatric wards, and a deep shortage of what she called «essential medicines.» ❋ By MARK McDONALD (2011)

«There’s only so much you can cut before you get to what I call essential services that need to be provided by the state,» said state Sen. Bill Raggio, a Reno, Nev., Republican whose ❋ Unknown (2010)

[Water] is [essential] [for life]. ❋ Diggity Monkeez (2004)

Essentially, [the leg] [bone] is connected to the hip bone.
Replace the sentence with the less-wordy: [The leg] bone is connected to the hip bone ❋ Exit Ramp (2004)

Hey we’[re] going to have you [work] because… your [essential]. ❋ Sewdonim (2020)

[In the nude] [pic], she is seen [covering] her essentials with her bare hands. ❋ Uttam Maharjan 2 (2014)

eSSeNTiaL fucked [the shit out of] that girls pussy and gave her bruises [along with] [herpes]. ❋ BJOHNSONdt Aka ESSeNTiaL (2005)

Jimpi, [Mada] Condor, Fat Jew, and [Milt] playes some wicked awesome stuff. They are in a band called [The Essentials]! ❋ Alex (2005)

I secretly love staring at [men’s underwear] [ads] when my girlfriend is away. Not only am I the Man [Essentials] President, I’m also their #1 client. ❋ GetOutOfTheCloset (2011)

Karen: Honey, our little girl apparently contracted [measles], and I don’t even know how!
Bob: Did you get her vaccinated?
Karen: Of course not! I just used some essential oils that I found on Facebook.
Bob: You’re such a psychopath. Now I’m grateful that you divorced me and took the kids, because now I can’t be held [liable]. I hope YOU get measles now.
Karen: Well, I’d rather have her die than get infected by [the lies] of the government. ❋ Derpsderps (2019)

JerDawg is totally the essentialist of the essential. He’s so [badass] and [fearless] that even the [gangsters] in his neighborhood are forced to show respect! ❋ Calling Them Out (2020)

John wanted to [stay at home] during the COVID-19 quarantine across America, but he was told he was an [essential employee] and could lose his job if he didn’t show up for work. Having no savings, John swallowed his pride, went to work, got infected with COVID-19 by a [fellow employee] in the same situation, and died. ❋ Sausage75 (2020)

What does the word essential mean?

According to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language as well as other sources like Collins English Dictionary and American Heritage, the word essential can either be used as an adjective or a noun. As an adjective, the word essential means constituting essence, or relating to. It can also refer to something that is of the utmost importance or, in biology, a substance that is not synthesized in the body that must be obtained from the diet. As a noun, the word essential refers to something basic, indispensable, necessary or unavoidable. The pronunciation of essential is i-ˈsen(t)-shəl. Essential is three syllables: es-sen-tial.

There are also numerous different words and phrases that contain the word essential or are related words to essential. These are listed below, from Word Sense.

•  superessential
•  essential amino acid
•  essentialness
•  essential fatty acid
•  essential nutrient
•  essence
•  essential listening
•  essential oil
•  essentially
•  quintessential

Many different languages also contain their own words for essential. You may notice in the below list of translations from Word Sense that many of these translations look and sound similar to the word essential. This is called a cognate. Cognates are formed when two words have the same root or language of origin. 

•  Bulgarian: необходим‎
•  Mandarin: 必要‎ (必要), 不可缺‎, 必備‎, 必备‎ (bìbèi)
•  Russian: необходи́мый‎
•  Catalan: essencial‎
•  Romanian: necesar‎ (masc.) (n)
•  Portuguese: essencial‎
•  Bokmål: essensiell‎
•  Finnish: olennainen‎, tärkeä‎, tarpeellinen‎
•  Estonian: vajalik‎
•  Dutch: essentieel‎, onontbeerlijk‎, wezenlijk‎, noodzakelijk‎, nodig‎
•  Georgian: აუცილებელი‎, არსებითი‎
•  Japanese: 不可欠‎
•  Czech: nepostradatelný‎ (masc.), esenciální‎, nezbytný‎ (masc.), nevyhnutelný‎ (masc.)
•  Scottish Gaelic: deatamach‎, riatanach‎
•  Slovene: bistven‎, nujen‎
•  Korean: 필수적인‎
•  Polish: niezbędny‎ (masc.)
•  Nynorsk: essensiell‎
•  German: essenziell‎, notwendig‎, unverzichtbar‎
•  Maltese: essenzjali‎

How can the word essential be used in a sentence?

The word essential can be used in many different sentences in the English language. Below are several examples of essential. 

The geologist was studying the essential property of gold to determine the classification of a rock. She was the first to discover the identity of the subject, so she got to choose the rock’s name and determine its atomic number. The geologist was held in high regard, and was considered essential to the very nature of the future of geology.

During the lockdown, the indispensable worker and essential services department became an essential part of providing the necessities of life to the public. Workers such as farmers and grocery store workers provided the basic form of fodder and shelter to others. 

His public confidence was an essential part of his personality. He never took external considerations into account, and his own opinion was always of the greatest importance. He had cool nerves that allowed him to come by the essentials of the good life with ease. 

The completion of the project was essential to the attainment of an object that they needed: their diploma. If they did not complete their project on the history of chess, they would not receive their degree. 

The scientists extracted the essence of a plant from the leaf. This substance was essential to the cure for the disease that they were testing out. It required the protein of the very rare plant that is in a class of objects only found in a 10 square kilometer area in South America.

While it may seem like a strictly creative field, logic is essential to create a good musician. If one cannot identify the fundamental harmony of a chord, they cannot be a musician to the highest degree. 

The intrinsic value of diamonds comes from the favorable conditions in which they must be found. While diamonds are not considered an essential, a beautiful crystal-clear sphere is a show of inherent means. 

They were stranded on the island with no essential tools or requisites of water fuel. The boundary of each complementary region was miles away, and they did not know how they were going to find the fortune to survive.

What are synonyms and antonyms of essential?

There are many different English-language words that a person can use in place of the word essential. These words are called synonyms. Learning synonyms is a great way to expand your English language vocabulary and avoid repeating yourself. This list of synonyms for the word essential is provided by Thesaurus.

•  material
•  cold
•  congenital
•  elemental
•  absolute
•  basic
•  basal
•  connate
•  fundamental
•  name of the game
•  key
•  principal
•  deep-seated
•  nitty-gritty
•  complete
•  inbred
•  inborn
•  inherent
•  intrinsic
•  constitutional
•  perfect
•  cardinal
•  meat and potatoes
•  primitive
•  ideal
•  quintessential
•  underlying
•  innate
•  primary 
•  main
•  prime
•  substratal
•  nub
•  elementary

There are also many different English language words that means the opposite of the word essential. These opposite words are called antonyms. Learning antonyms is another great way to expand your English language vocabulary. This list of antonyms is also provided by Thesaurus.

•  beside the point
•  redundant
•  uncalled-for
•  prodigal
•  undesirable
•  profuse
•  unessential
•  noncompulsory
•  avoidable
•  futile
•  causeless
•  dispensable
•  expendable
•  uncritical
•  unrequired
•  extraneous
•  additional
•  optional
•  worthless
•  haphazard
•  irrelevant
•  excess
•  random
•  wanton
•  unneeded
•  lavish
•  chance
•  accidental
•  nonessential
•  gratuitous
•  supererogatory
•  surplus
•  inessential
•  needless
•  unnecessary
•  exorbitant
•  casual
•  useless
•  superfluous
•  fortuitous
•  extrinsic

What is the origin of the word essential?

According to Etymonline, the word essential has been used as an adjective since the mid-14c. This comes from the Late Latin essentialis, from the aAtin essentia meaning being or essence. This is similar to the Greek ousia. This comes from the root essent, which is the present participle of the Latin esse meaning to be, from the Proto-Indo-European root es meaning to be. Essential has meant continuing the essence of something since the 1540s and necessary since the 1520s. One can add the suffixes ly and ism to create the related words essentially (adv.) and essentialism (n.)

Overall, the word essential means the constitution of a thing, a permanent quality, a natural composition of a thing or some things very essence in the highest sense.. In biochemistry and geology, it can refer to an extract of a plant, or mineral constituent of a rock that is necessary for normal growth of an organism but does not occur naturally in the body. Crucial information is essential to creating change.

Sources: 

1. essential: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
2. ESSENTIAL Synonyms: 125 Synonyms & Antonyms for ESSENTIAL | Thesaurus 
3. NONESSENTIAL Synonyms: 19 Synonyms & Antonyms for NONESSENTIAL | Thesaurus 
4. essential | Origin and meaning of essential | Online Etymology Dictionary 
5. Essential | Definition of Essential | Merriam-Webster 

Britannica Dictionary definition of ESSENTIAL

[more essential; most essential]

Britannica Dictionary definition of ESSENTIAL

[count]

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• essentiall (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

From Late Latin essentiālis, from Latin essentia (“being, essence”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈsɛn.ʃəl/, [əˈsɛn.tʃəl]
• Hyphenation: es‧sen‧tial

Adjective[edit]

essential (comparative more essential, superlative most essential)

1. Necessary.

   Synonyms: indispensable; see also Thesaurus:requisite

   Antonyms: accidental, accessorial, incidental, unnecessary, unneeded

   • 2018, Clarence Green; James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 105:

     Thus, research-based resources with the potential to assist teachers prepare secondary students for tertiary education are essential.

2. Very important; of high importance.

   Synonyms: crucial; see also Thesaurus:important

   Antonyms: unimportant; see also Thesaurus:insignificant

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. […]

3. (biology) Necessary for survival but not synthesized by the organism, thus needing to be ingested.
4. Being in the basic form; showing its essence.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intrinsic, Thesaurus:bare-bones

   Antonyms: adscititious; see also Thesaurus:extrinsic

   Don’t mind him being grumpy. That’s the essential Fred.

5. Really existing; existent.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:existent

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:inexistent

   • 1612–1613 (date written), John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dvtchesse of Malfy. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii:

     Or is it true, that thou art but a bare name, / And no eſſential thing?

6. (geometry) Such that each complementary region is irreducible, the boundary of each complementary region is incompressible by disks and monogons in the complementary region, and no leaf is a sphere or a torus bounding a solid torus in the manifold.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

7. (medicine) Idiopathic.

   essential blepharospasm

8. Having the nature of essence; not physical.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     It is usually allowed that there is the natural body, as St. Paul called it, which is dissolved at death, and the etheric or spiritual body which survives and functions upon an etheric plane. Those are the essential things. But we may really have as many coats as an onion and there may be a mental body which may shed itself at any spot where great mental or emotional strain has been experienced.

Antonyms[edit]

• inessential, unessential, non-essential, nonessential

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

essential (plural essentials)

1. A necessary ingredient.
2. A fundamental ingredient.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

[edit]

• essentials
• essence

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• essential on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams[edit]

• siletanes

Полезное

• Go to Preferences page and choose from different actions for taps or mouse clicks.

‘essential‘ also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):