essentialadjective
uk/ɪˈsen.ʃəl/us/ɪˈsen.ʃəl/B1 necessary or needed:
Government support will be essential if the project is to succeed.
There is essential work to be done before the building can be re-occupied.
Water is essential for/to living things.
It is essential (that) our prices remain competitive.
[ + to infinitive ] For the experiment to be valid, it is essential to record the data accurately.
More examples
- The books on this list are essential reading for the course.
- Fresh fruit and vegetables form an essential part of a healthy diet.
- During the emergency, people stocked up on essential items like candles, medicines and tins of food.
- It's essential that she has this medicine every day.
- Computer literacy is becoming as essential as the ability to drive a car.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Essential or necessary
- a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do idiom
- basically
- basis
- be a question of doing sth idiom
- business-critical
- dependence
- imply
- incumbent
- indispensable
- inherent
- integral
- interdependent
- needed
- needful
- occasion
- on a need-to-know basis idiom
- owe
- owe it to yourself idiom
- underlying
- warrant
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essentialnoun [ C usually plural ]
uk/ɪˈsen.ʃəl/us/ɪˈsen.ʃəl/a basic thing that you cannot live without:
Because I live in a remote village, I regard my car as an essential.
When we go on holiday, we only take the bare essentials.
This leaflet will give you the essentials of how to prepare for a hurricane.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Important and essential things
- -based
- amenity
- be-all
- big league
- biggie
- building block
- flagship
- heavyweight
- hot button
- kernel
- keynote
- keystone
- lifeblood
- nucleus
- pivot
- prerequisite
- priority
- requisite
- sine qua non
- supply
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