ESSENTIAL Synonyms

• not to be dispensed with; essential

• absolutely necessary; vitally necessary

• unavoidable

• absolutely essential

• anything indispensable

• unavoidably determined by prior circumstances

• anything indispensable

• necessary for relief or supply

• pertaining to or constituting a base or basis

• (usually in the plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant

• a popular programming language that is relatively easy to learn; an acronym for beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code; no longer in general use

• reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality

• serving as a base or starting point

• of or denoting or of the nature of or containing a base

• any factor that could be considered important to the understanding of a particular business

• the lowest tone of a harmonic series

• serving as an essential component

• being or involving basic facts or principles

• far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the nature of something

• requiring attention or action

• relating to verbs in the imperative mood

• a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior

• some duty that is essential and urgent

• a verb in the imperative mood.

• of great significance or value

• important in effect or meaning

• of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis

• having authority or ascendancy or influence

• having or suggesting a consciousness of high position

• metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated

• United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843)

• something crucial for explaining

• pitch of the voice

• any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music

• a kilogram of a narcotic drug

• a winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple

• a coral reef off the southern coast of Florida

• (basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court

• a list of answers to a test

• a list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations

• a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access

• mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock)

• the central building block at the top of an arch or vault

• a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed

• serving as an essential component

• identify as in botany or biology, for example

• provide with a key

• vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key

• regulate the musical pitch of

• harmonize with or adjust to

• of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary

• a preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen

• one of the main flight feathers projecting along the outer edge of a bird's wing

• (astronomy) a celestial body (especially a star) relative to other objects in orbit around it

• coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring circuit

• not derived from or reducible to something else; basic

• most important element

• of or being the essential or basic part

• important in effect or meaning

• too closely correlated to be attributed to chance and therefore indicating a systematic relation

• of considerable importance, size, or worth

• rich in significance or implication

• urgently needed; absolutely necessary

• performing an essential function in the living body

• full of spirit; full of life

• manifesting or characteristic of life

• of the greatest importance

• the condition of being essential or indispensable

• anything indispensable

• required activity

• anything indispensable

• something that is required in advance

• defining rights and duties as opposed to giving the rules by which rights and duties are established

• any word or group of words functioning as a noun

• of or relating to the real nature or essential elements of something

• being on topic and prompting thought

• of the greatest importance