Learning English

Learn four meanings of the word 'essential'.

Watch the video and complete the activity

• How to use 'certain'
• Four ways to use 'practice'
• Four ways to use 'issue'

Essential

When essential is an adjective, it can mean ‘necessary, or needed, or extremely important’.  

• We can’t live without water. It’s essential.

And as an adjective, essential can also be used to talk about ‘the most important or basic qualities of someone or something’.

• It’s a beautiful old house. We don’t want to change its essential character.

When it's a noun, essential can mean ‘a basic thing that we cannot live without’. It is a countable noun and often used in the plural.

• When we go camping, we only take a few essentials with us.

And essential can also mean ‘the basic or most important part of something’. With this meaning, it is again used in the plural and often with ‘the’ before it and ‘of’ after it.

• Now you have all the essentials of the word ‘essential’.

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