essential

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“
In the Nano only the essential is allowed to exist.

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Definitions (39)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Constituting or being part of the essence of something; inherent.
  2. adjective Basic or indispensable; necessary: essential ingredients. See Synonyms at indispensable.
  3. adjective Medicine Of, relating to, or being a dysfunctional condition or a disease whose cause is unknown: essential hypertension.
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Examples (50)

  • With the greatest difficulty we selected between the essential and the non-essential, and our few transports were at length loaded to the very water's edge on the morning of March 29th,—Colonel Montgomery having by this time returned from up-river, with sixteen prisoners, and the fruits of foraging in plenty. —  Army Life in a Black Regiment
  • Salvaggio then tapped that community to teach a series of courses in what she calls the essential craft of agrarian life: canning, lacto-fermentation, bread baking, beekeeping, beer brewing, gardening, herbal medicine and cheese making. —  Kansas City Star: Front Page
  • Palin's comment about being a pit-bull with lipstick, reminded me of the qualities that the late Dick DeVenzo or now Dena Evans describe as the essential personality of a point-guard. —  The Austrian Economists
  • It might be better characterized as the essential tenet of stagnation. —  Desert Beacon
  • For we look upon the union as essential, that is, as true and not imaginary. —  orrologion
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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essential:   essentials
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French essentiel = Provencal essencial = Spanish esencial = Portuguese essencial = Italian essenziale, from Middle Latin essentialis, from Latin essentia, essence: see essence.
 

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/ɛˈsɛnʃəl/
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