essential

adjective
es·sen·tial
/ɪˈsɛn.ʃəl/

Very important; of high importance.

Other meanings

Necessary for survival but not synthesized by the organism, thus needing to be ingested.
Being in the basic form; showing its essence.
“Don’t mind him being grumpy. That’s the essential Fred.”

Antonyms

non-essential

Related words

bioessential
coessential
essentialism
essentialist
essentiality
essentialization
essentialize
quasiessential
subessential
essential infimum
essential prime implicant
essential salt

Example sentences

“Privacy is essential in a digital world.”
Tatoeba · Igider · CC0

Word history

From Latin "essentia" (being, essence).

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “essential” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.