essential

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈsɛn.tʃəl/, X-SAMPA: /I"sEn.tS@l/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

essential (comparative more essential, superlative most essential)

1. Necessary.
2. Very important; of high importance.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, 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. Being in the basic form; showing its essence.

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

4. (of a lamination of a 3-manifold)   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.
5. (medicine) Idiopathic.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

• indispensable, crucial, substantive
• See also Wikisaurus:requisite

Antonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

• inessential, unessential, accidental, nonessential, unneeded, adscititious, unimportant, accessorial, unnecessary, incidental

Derived terms

terms derived from essential (adjective)

essential amino acid essential fatty acid essential listening essential nutrient

essential oil essentially essentialness quintessential

Translations

necessary

• Bulgarian: необходим (bg) (neobhodim)
• Catalan: essencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 必要 (cmn) (必要), 不可缺的 (cmn) (bùkě quē de), 必備 (cmn), 必备 (cmn) (bìbèi)

• Czech: nepostradatelný (cs) m, esenciální (cs), nezbytný (cs) m, nevyhnutelný (cs) m
• Dutch: essentieel (nl), onontbeerlijk (nl), wezenlijk (nl), noodzakelijk (nl), nodig (nl)
• Estonian: vajalik (et)

• Finnish: olennainen (fi), tärkeä (fi), tarpeellinen (fi)
• German: essenziell (de), notwendig (de)
• Japanese: 不可欠な (ja) (ふかけつな, fukaketsu na)
• Maltese: essenzjali (mt)
• Polish: niezbędny (pl) m
• Romanian: necesar (ro) m and n
• Russian: необходимый (ru) (neobxodímyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: deatamach (gd), riatanach (gd)
• Slovene: bistven, nujen

of high importance

• Bulgarian: важен (bg) (važen), съществен (bg) (sǎštestven)
• Catalan: essencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 要素 (cmn) (yàosù), 切要 (cmn) (qièyào)

• Czech: zásadní (cs), esenciální (cs), nejpodstatnější (cs), nejdůležitější (cs), hlavní (cs)
• Dutch: essentieel (nl), onontbeerlijk (nl), wezenlijk (nl), belangrijk (nl)
• Estonian: oluline (et)
• Finnish: olennainen (fi), välttämätön (fi), elintärkeä (fi), oleellinen (fi)

• French: indispensable (fr)
• German: wesentlich (de), unentbehrlich (de)
• Japanese: 肝要 (ja) (かんよう, kan'yō)
• Maltese: essenzjali (mt)
• Polish: zasadniczy (pl) m
• Romanian: esențial (ro) m and n, important (ro) m and n, importantă (ro) f, esențială (ro) f
• Russian: важный (ru) (vážnyj), существенный (ru) (suščéstvennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: deatamach (gd), riatanach (gd)
• Slovene: bistven

in basic form

• Bulgarian: основен (bg) (osnoven)
• Catalan: essencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精華的 (cmn), 精华的 (cmn) (jīnghuá de)

• Dutch: essentieel (nl), wezenlijk (nl), echt (nl)
• Finnish: perusluonteinen (fi), normaali (fi)
• French: essentiel (fr), fondamental (fr)

• Japanese: 肝心な (ja) (かんじんな, kanjin na)
• Maltese: essenzjali (mt)
• Polish: podstawowy (pl)
• Romanian: de bază (ro), fundamental (ro)
• Russian: основной (ru) (osnovnój), базовый (ru) (bázovyj), фундаментальный (ru) (fundamentálʹnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: esenca
• French: essentiel
• Italian: essenziale (1,2,3), indispensabile (1,2)

• Spanish: esencial
• Swedish: oumbärlig, väsentlig, nödvändig
• Vietnamese: bản chất, cần thiết (1), cốt yếu, chủ yếu

Noun

essential (plural essentials)

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

Translations

necessary ingredient

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 必要的, simpl. 必要的 (bìyàode)

• Czech: nezbytnost (cs) f

• Finnish: tarpeellinen ainesosa
• Greek: ουσιαστικός (el) (ousiastikós) m, ουσιώδης (el) (ousiódis) m

fundamental ingredient

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: trad. 基本的, simpl. 基本的 (jīběnde)

• Czech: podstata (cs) f, jádro (cs) n, esence (cs) f

• Dutch: essentiële (nl) n
• Finnish: olennainen ainesosa
• Greek: ουσιαστικός (el) (ousiastikós) m, ουσιώδης (el) (ousiódis) m, στοιχειώδης (el) (stoicheiódis) m

Related terms

• essence

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Latin

Noun

essentiāl (genitive essentiālis); n, third declension

1. essentials (essential qualities)

Related terms

• essentialis

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	essentiāl	essentiāla
genitive	essentiālis	essentiālum
dative	essentiālī	essentiālibus
accusative	essentiāl	essentiāla
ablative	essentiāle	essentiālibus
vocative	essentiāl	essentiāla