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essential
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show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • She said she hated putting the children through this, but their testimony was essential.   (source)
    essential = necessary
  • Not to inquire about my aims, motives or desires is an essential part of their theory.   (source)
  • Paleontology was essentially detective work, searching for clues in the fossil bones and the trackways of the long-vanished giants.†   (source)
    essentially = basically (in all important respects; or relating to the basic nature of something)
  • He outwitted the Nazis by claiming we were essential to the war effort even though he knew that many of us, myself included, had no useful skills at all.†   (source)
    essential = necessary or important or relating to the basic nature of something
  • He began telling her the story of his married life, but curiously enough she appeared to know the essential parts of it already.   (source)
    essential = basic (relating to the basic nature of something)
  • For of course it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even though they hated it.   (source)
    essential = necessary
  • In himself man is essentially a beast, only he butters it over like a slice of bread with a little decorum.   (source)
    essentially = basically (relating to the basic nature of something)
  • Flour is so essential to cakes, you know.   (source)
    essential = necessary or important
  • You've been the rock of ages to me, all right, but you're essentially a simp.   (source)
    essentially = in all important respects
  • The General was essentially a man of peace, except in his domestic life.   (source)
    essentially = basically (relating to the basic nature of something)
  • I think everyone expected to see a man emerge—possibly something a little unlike us terrestrial men, but in all essentials a man.   (source)
    essentials = important ways
  • The essentials of this affair lay deep under the surface, beyond my reach, and beyond my power of meddling.   (source)
    essentials = important characteristics
  • No; for though that difference is the true essential difference—Dona Ana has, I admit, gone straight to the real point—yet it is not a difference of love or chastity, or even constancy; for twelve children by twelve different husbands would have replenished the earth perhaps more effectively.   (source)
    essential = basic (relating to the basic nature of something)
  • The highest Petersburg society is essentially one: in it everyone knows everyone else, everyone even visits everyone else.   (source)
    essentially = basically (relating to the basic nature of something)
  • He deemed it essential, it would seem, to know the man, before attempting to do him good.   (source)
    essential = necessary
  • Meantime, you forget essential points in pursuing trifles: you do not inquire why Mr. Briggs sought after you — what he wanted with you.   (source)
    essential = important or necessary
  • The events were comparatively small, but the essential condition was there—namely, that they were in favor of his own ends.   (source)
    essential = necessary
  • In essentials, I believe, he is very much what he ever was.   (source)
    essentials = the most important ways
  • Essential oils were popular, and Mother had the best on the market.†   (source)
  • Knowing that the Hubermanns were essentially broke, still paying off debts and paying rent quicker than the money could come in, she was not expecting a gift of any sort.†   (source)
  • A publishing company in Lahore which supplied our schoolbooks sent five trucks of food and other essentials.†   (source)
  • The merchants live above their businesses, so I was essentially in their backyards.†   (source)
  • What is essential is invisible to the eye.†   (source)
  • The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes.†   (source)
  • He took the essentials—a big black cast-iron skillet and the Dutch oven, some army-surplus tin plates, a few knives, his pistol, and Mom's archery set—and packed them in the trunk of the Blue Goose.†   (source)
  • For Phil, thirst had been the cruelest trial, and he knew that the water left in his tin, essential to his own survival, couldn't save Mac.†   (source)
  • And she realized that he was, in some sense, already lost to her—had outgrown her in some essential way.†   (source)
  • Teeth are essential.†   (source)
  • But although "land of the free" refers to the essential freedoms that make this country the greatest democracy on earth, it could also refer to the abundance of free samples available throughout this great land.†   (source)
  • Its patterns of movement essentially cannot be mathematically predicted.†   (source)
  • Our situation was bringing my life into sharp relief, making me shrug off any artificialities, cleaning away all of the unimportant things I'd thought of as essential before.†   (source)
  • But it wasn't absolutely essential.†   (source)
  • The Public Religion Institute based its results on surveys—essentially, they called around and asked people what they thought.†   (source)
  • We'll take nothing but our papers and the bare essentials.†   (source)
  • In the hood, your school affiliation was essential.†   (source)
  • I learned the lesson that an animal is an animal, essentially and practically removed from us, twice: once with Father and once with Richard Parker.†   (source)
  • In Alabama, asking to change venue was an essentially futile act.†   (source)
  • In the knapsacks were essential things.†   (source)
  • In this most essential way, she had failed him-seven times she had failed him-and now she was nothing but a burden to him.†   (source)
  • I realized pretty quickly that I was essentially being instructed to befuddle old people into switching energy suppliers, and told Syed, my personal "adviser," that I couldn't do it.†   (source)
  • But again, the essential parts were missing—names, faces, places, events.†   (source)
  • Essentially, the manuscript is about the iconography of goddess worship—the concept of female sanctity and the art and symbols associated with it.†   (source)
  • She thought we were infinitely more talented than anyone like Tessa, and it irked her to no end that she had fame and money when we didn't for doing essentially the same thing.†   (source)
  • They said that essentially the drug is twelve hours of schizophrenia, and if you already have a lot of this brain transmitter, you don't get out of it.†   (source)
  • You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials.†   (source)
  • For essential things like bookshelves, file cabinets, and reading lamps, I visited a junk shop on the edge of town.†   (source)
  • She was certain that it was the result of theft from both her workers and her clients, so it was essential to stay on top of the situation.†   (source)
  • The rumors are that only essential personnel and those with medical reasons will be allowed to stay in Saint-Malo.†   (source)
  • The building consisted mainly of one narrow and profoundly vertical room—a giant stairwell, essentially—dominated by a skeletal staircase that corkscrewed from the floor to a stone landing, more than a hundred feet up.†   (source)
  • Time was essential, if Ty was to get those sows breeding again, and begin paying off the money that was about to be spent.†   (source)
  • I don't exaggerate when I say that every one of you is essential to the success of the team, and indeed, to the fate of us all.†   (source)
  • She'd all but forgotten about her left-wrist health monitor, but the camera had made essential the use of this, a second, right-wrist bracelet.†   (source)
  • We never devoted the attention to spitting, or to tugging at our armpits and crotches, that is the essential expression of nervousness in the adult sport.†   (source)
  • There was nothing that seemed too exotic, nothing that did not seem essential to my future.†   (source)
  • Being the last to call out "not it" meant you had to entertain the ugly girl for the night while your friends got to hook up with her hot friends— meaning, essentially, that you were as lame and unattractive as she was.†   (source)
  • Just the essentials, with the Luger, the M16, the ammo, and my trusty bowie knife topping the list.†   (source)
  • The quadrangle surrounding the Far Common was never considered absolutely essential to the Devon School.†   (source)
  • First Friday attendance is mandatory, unless you are, like my sister, an "essential laborer."†   (source)
  • It was wrong to open people's letters, but it was right, it was essential, for her to know everything.†   (source)
  • I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight, a mathematical understanding of all possible moves, and patience; all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent.†   (source)
  • But unfortunately, it turned out there was more to the agreement: I, the undersigned, Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, agree to fulfill the duties of heir to Artur Christoff Phillipe Gerard Grimaldi Renaldo, prince of Genovia, and all that such a role entails, including but not exclusive to, assuming the throne upon the latter's demise and attending functions of state at which the presence of said heir is deemed essential.†   (source)
  • For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential.†   (source)
  • These are essential fatty acids and they are very important for human health.†   (source)
  • But the ship's course is essentially the same?†   (source)
  • Essentially, it makes it so that they are immune to Lunar control.†   (source)
  • This opening was designed to reveal only the bride's essential parts while allowing marital intimacy.†   (source)
  • I imagined him smiling at me with a victorious look in his eye, one that essentially meant "Sorry, partner, you're too late.†   (source)
  • We learned, sometimes the hard way, that self-control is essential and that peaceful solutions are always preferable to violent ones.†   (source)
  • Steal essentials of life from private citizen.†   (source)
  • The Giant's corpse had essentially finished its decay.†   (source)
  • But then, Comrade K. N. M. Pillai was essentially a political man.†   (source)
  • The talent of essentially half of the Czech athletic population has been squandered.†   (source)
  • We had witnessed something essential, something brand-new and profound, a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it.†   (source)
  • And what's more, I'm shutting down all non-essential flights until the present crisis is past.†   (source)
  • In a town like this, where everyone lived on top of everyone else, diplomacy was essential.†   (source)
  • Nine essential vitamins, min-erals, amino acids ...oh, everything you need to feel your-self again.†   (source)
  • Will was only one year older than I am now when his parents died, and he essentially became a parent himself.†   (source)
  • It called them the 'essential factions'—without them, we would be incapable of survival.†   (source)
  • Then she crept back to her room to pack a few things, only the essentials: a change of clothing and a photograph of herself and Mo, so that she could ask people if they'd seen him.†   (source)
  • And then she'd never mentioned it again, this essential fact about his life slipping from her mind as so many others did.†   (source)
  • Patience was essential.†   (source)
  • Mr. Grey kept telling us—and we had to agree— that the essential things had been kept, the things that mattered.†   (source)
  • The money I earned in Kilvin's shop was spent on essentials: ink, soap, lute strings ...the only other thing I could afford was pride.†   (source)
  • Moose are large, and essentially insane with an almost pathological hatred of the dogs, the sled, the musher, trees, trains, cars, and everything else as near as I can figure.†   (source)
  • It is essential that the secrets of the Time Tombs and Shrike be uncovered.†   (source)
  • And replication is an essential part of science: a discovery isn't considered valid if others can't repeat the work and get the same result.†   (source)
  • Essentially, I neglected Ramiro and my daughter, Andrea, after their mom and I broke up.†   (source)
  • Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgment, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value.†   (source)
  • Not only were we supplying raw anthropological data to the filmmakers, we were essentially being given our own personal casting call.†   (source)
  • I've always supposed that Wall Street traders utter essentially the same sentence.†   (source)
  • Thales and Anaximenes had pointed out that both water and air were essential elements in the physical world.†   (source)
  • The bar charts were coupled with more free-form peer feedback, which was essentially specific suggestions for improvement, such as "Let other people finish their sentences when they're talking."†   (source)
  • It was so small that it could only be used to grow essential foods, such as corn and yams.†   (source)
  • Good spelling and good grammar and good word skills are essential for every student.†   (source)
  • In spite of this and other changes, life for the three of us—Father, Betsie, and me—stayed essentially the same.†   (source)
  • It was essential, to get a job in that business.†   (source)
  • This time we were given shared rooms, or rather cells containing only the most essential household equipment and plank beds.†   (source)
  • That was the joy; the misery was his essential powerlessness.†   (source)
  • As Guardian, I am asking you to do something I believe to be essential to the survival of not only the Elder Race, but humani, too: I want you to Awaken the twins magical potential.†   (source)
  • The GROM hit houses essentially the way SEALs do.†   (source)
  • Radchaai armor is an essentially impenetrable force shield.†   (source)
  • What she was doing, what she had just done, was for her not about frivolity, it was about the essential, about being human, living as a human being, reminding oneself of what one was, and so it mattered, and if necessary was worth a fight.†   (source)
  • I tried to think about how the conversation would go—the girl I like, whose real name I don't know, is a witch—excuse me, a Caster, from a whole family of Casters, and in five months she's going to find out essentially if she's good or evil.†   (source)
  • Essentially.†   (source)
  • Only Nahtan remains essentially himself, the same man however you look at him.†   (source)
  • That kind of tactical response was turning out to be essential equipment for the lone survivor.†   (source)
  • They acquired big houses on streets named Harvard and Yale that were lined with elm, ash, sycamore, and linden and posted with signs barring all but essential wagon traffic.†   (source)
  • His social development essentially stalled with his breakdown, which came at a time when race in America was a raw, divisive subject.†   (source)
  • Installed in the Red October's keel was a highly sensitive device called a gradiometer, essentially two large lead weights separated by a space of one hundred yards.†   (source)
  • "I see you brought the essentials," he teases, waving it in the air.†   (source)
  • So he sat in jail for one night, and another, and yet another, essentially lost in the system.†   (source)
  • But I stayed with Lestat because I was afraid he did know essential secrets as a vampire which I could not discover alone and, more important, because he was the only one of my kind whom I knew.†   (source)
  • Another mentioned a different school, but the students' worries were essentially the same.†   (source)
  • An essential feature of this disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of self-image, interpersonal relationships, and mood, beginning in early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.†   (source)
  • Aureliano Centeno, overwhelmed by the abundance of the factory, had already begun to experiment with the production of ice with a base of fruit juices instead of water, and without knowing it or thinking about it, he conceived the essential fundamentals for the invention of sherbet.†   (source)
  • From it he took books, CDs and a CD player, notebooks, a Sanyo tape recorder, a Microtek scanner, a portable ink-jet printer, a Minolta digital camera, and a number of other items he regarded as essential kit for a year in exile.†   (source)
  • "Well," Molly says, "I think the boat represents what you take with you—the essential things—from place to place.†   (source)
  • Extra care has been used in sealing essential areas against sand and dust.†   (source)
  • I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife.†   (source)
  • In five minutes, my carpetbag was packed with a few essentials: Tonic, my magic book, my dictionary, a shawl, and little else.†   (source)
  • The elf's quarters were barren except for those few essentials necessary for food, hygiene, and the pursuit of an intellectual life.†   (source)
  • Essentially, my mom was taking care of four generations of people.†   (source)
  • Some essential part of me is safer with Ky than anywhere else.†   (source)
  • Seeing him made questions and worries evaporate, and I remained transfixed, caught and caressed by the essential elements of sky and earth and water.†   (source)
  • But with the weight of age and politics, Tres Marias, like many other things that had once seemed essential, had ceased to interest him.†   (source)
  • At twenty-nine, the wine was essential to wake him in the morning.†   (source)
  • If one assumed a rocket took approximately the same time to reach altitude as it did to come back down—a good assumption, since zincoshine burned so fast our rockets were essentially free flyers the moment they left the pad—then dividing the total time of flight in half, squaring it, and multiplying the result by sixteen gave us a rough estimate of the altitude reached.†   (source)
  • In my eyes, Phillip 's as essentially asking for help and didn't get it.†   (source)
  • The doctor sat on a stainless-steel chair, narrowing his concentration to the essential facts.†   (source)
  • It is said that other villages along the shores of Lake Victoria have been essentially wiped off the map by AIDS.†   (source)
  • We were all essentially cut from the same cloth, so to speak.†   (source)
  • I'm not all that vain, but standing in a crowd composed entirely of the opposite sex, my essentials barely covered, and nobody even looked at me?†   (source)
  • Farmers and cattle ranchers are losing their independence, essentially becoming hired hands for the agribusiness giants or being forced off the land.†   (source)
  • Which is essentially all the time.†   (source)
  • Essentially, the bill permitted the government to outlaw any organization and to restrict any individual opposed to its policies.†   (source)
  • The very monotony I had lately disdained cried out to me: I am essential without me you will wither, like this summer folding up into fall' freeze hard, water in winter awaiting the first breath of spring' uproot, grass in a wind blown into tornado' parch, like earth denied rain.†   (source)
  • An essential part of the brothel business model is to break the spirit of girls, through humiliation, rape, threats, and violence.†   (source)
  • Glass knew the Vice Chancellor would be there, and that it was essential to play her part; she'd gotten back her life in exchange for giving him a better image, which was a more than fair trade-off.†   (source)
  • For a moment Clary thought she might fall; she felt as if something essential had been torn away from her, an arm or a leg, and she stared at Jace in blank astonishment—what did he feel, did he feel nothing?†   (source)
  • The Miranda warnings are essential, you know.†   (source)
  • If they take something that essential away from 23,000 people the rest of British Columbia will feel some of the bad side effects.†   (source)
  • The essentials were also easily replaceable: her sewing kit, her watercolors, her clothes.†   (source)
  • Because of it, she could understand why, when essentially they were so mismatched, her mother had married her father.†   (source)
  • They knew that it was essentially a liquid which could be induced to flow slowly toward cooing and light.†   (source)
  • Kennedy will push for "a substantial reduction and revision in federal income taxes" as the "one step, above all, essential" to make America more competitive in the world economy.†   (source)
  • For years Call had looked at life as if it were essentially over.†   (source)
  • We'll pick up the essentials.†   (source)
  • The chance of going to jail—thereby losing your job, your house, and your freedom, all of which are essentially economic penalties—is certainly a strong incentive.†   (source)
  • Mary brought her essentials inside the house, and went up to her bedroom to unpack.†   (source)
  • Simple, heartfelt words, boiled to their essentials.†   (source)
  • He could see shadows and detect movement peripherally, but beyond that the eye was essentially blind.†   (source)
  • This reconciliation with Hitler reveals the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return, for in this world everything is pardoned in advance and therefore everything cynically permitted.†   (source)
  • But this was the dare she had to take, a way into some essential streak of self, some possibility that felt otherwise sandy and scanted and unturned.†   (source)
  • People like Nora and Jack (essentially subcontractors) would arrange to transport the suitcases into the States, where they were handed off to an anonymous pickup.†   (source)
  • And the fact that the frail was his mother and the King of the Mountain his father made it more poignant, but did not change the essential facts.†   (source)
  • By now, even the youngest Yearlings have learned Blackcliff's most essential lessons: Obey, conform, and keep your mouth shut.†   (source)
  • A diffuser is essential for cooking rice in the Iranian style; it spreads the heat evenly, allowing for the formation of the crust.†   (source)
  • I reasoned that a pig's organs included the lungs, heart and liver, so if Mrs. Cullinan was walking around without those essentials, it explained why she drank alcohol out of unmarked bottles.†   (source)
  • From a technology point of view, Rowan had essentially been placed in the nineteenth century "Hmmm," he said.†   (source)
  • Nothing too essential.†   (source)
  • Engines and men had scattered as the fire advanced and were now operating on their own, essentially trying to save individual buildings here and there.†   (source)
  • It is, I think, the best of Farmer's books, certainly the most passionate, essentially a history of American policy toward Haiti.†   (source)
  • He knew how essential it was to the future effectiveness of the army to break down regional differences and biases among the troops.†   (source)
  • 'You're the only one in the squadron who knows I'm a C.I.D. man,' he confided to Major Major, 'and it's absolutely essential that it remain a secret so that my efficiency won't be impaired.†   (source)
  • For they attributed to the king of old all their essential laws; and usually they kept the laws of free will, because they were The Rules (as they said), both ancient and just.†   (source)
  • Essentially, the state is failing its students on a massive scale and making them far too easy for the extremists who run many of the madrassas to recruit.†   (source)
  • His attitude, his friend recalled, was essentially: I'm goin' in anyway.†   (source)
  • He swings the silver-tipped cane under her belly and behind her front legs, essentially threatening her with it.†   (source)
  • Allan told Lorenzo to keep it to essential communications.†   (source)
  • Echo was becoming essential, like air.†   (source)
  • It isn't the accidents of an object that make it what it is ....it's the essential parts.†   (source)
  • These three non-SEALs were essential support personnel.†   (source)
  • It's essentially a backdoor switch that's triggered by the introduction of another uniquely engineered virus, which renders the vaccine impotent.†   (source)
  • "Essentially," replied Ordo Maas, "but that is not the whole of the story.†   (source)
  • Boots (everyone needs shampoo) Specsavers (essential) Oddbins (bottle of wine—essential) Our Price (Our Price?†   (source)
  • We spoke delicately about the essential elements that must be in place for a baby to take hold and whether or not our husbands obeyed these rituals.†   (source)
  • It was so wonderful feeling needed, necessary, helpful, actually essential!†   (source)
  • But there is nothing average about expression: it is essentially individual.†   (source)
  • From amongst the tools I picked out the three essentials of the lead miner straight pick, short hammer, and wedge.†   (source)
  • It was the calm of the observer, the uninvolved observer, separated from the events, knowing of them but not essentially involved.†   (source)
  • You have voted to end the territorial claim over Northern Ireland, essential to the agreement.†   (source)
  • The immediate surface impressions that are essential for primary understanding are gone.†   (source)
  • Essential that he pass.†   (source)
  • I had to throw overboard all excess baggage and keep only what is essential.†   (source)
  • Another trigger pull and then there occurs a second spin of Afghani flesh and bone with essential brain parts missing.†   (source)
  • It is ridiculous—pestilential, not to be borne—that we should be ruled by an irresponsible dictator in all our essential economy!†   (source)
  • Well, don't you see, Ma'am — it's an important occasion — returning to one's country — entering society — the best society — it is so essential to make a good impression — not perhaps looking quite ourselves, yet, eh?†   (source)
  • I was considering one where she would essentially play herself.†   (source)
  • He was traveling light, carrying only items he believed essential to the task.†   (source)
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