essential

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adjective

Definition of ESSENTIAL

1

impossible to do without <a well-stocked public library is essential for the well-being of a community>

Synonyms all-important, critical, imperative, indispensable, integral, must-have, necessary, necessitous, needed, needful, required, requisite, vital

Related Words prerequisite; compulsory, mandatory, nonelective, obligatory; consequential, crucial, important, major, material, meaningful, momentous, significant, substantial, weighty; basic, central, fundamental, key, organic; insistent, persistent, pressing, urgent

Phrases of the essence

Near Antonyms undesired, unwanted; inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant; excess, external, extra, extraneous, superfluous, surplus

Antonyms dispensable, inessential, needless, nonessential, unessential, unnecessary, unneeded

2

of or relating to the simplest facts or theories of a subject <anyone with an essential knowledge of human biology can follow the documentary>

Synonyms abecedarian, basal, basic, beginning, elemental, essential, fundamental, introductory, meat-and-potatoes, rudimental, rudimentary, underlying

Related Words primal, primary, prime, simple; crude, primeval, primitive, primordial, rude, uncomplicated; preliminary, preparatory; crucial, important, key

Near Antonyms complex, sophisticated; complicated, convoluted, detailed, elaborate, extensive, intricate; developed, evolved, high, higher, refined

Antonyms advanced

3

being a part of the innermost nature of a person or thing <an unquenchable belief in the essential goodness of most people>

Synonyms built-in, constitutional, constitutive, essential, hardwired, immanent, inborn, inbred, indigenous, ingrain, ingrained (also engrained), innate, integral, intrinsic, native, natural

Related Words basic, deep-rooted, elemental, fundamental; congenital, hereditary, inherited, inmost, inner, interior; internal; characteristic, distinctive, peculiar; habitual, inveterate; normal, regular, typical

Near Antonyms alien, foreign; accidental, coincidental, incidental; acquired, adscititious; superficial, surface; exterior, external

Antonyms adventitious, extraneous, extrinsic