- 1something that is needed in a particular situation or in order to do a particular thing I only had time to pack the bare essentials (= the most necessary things). The studio had all the essentials like heating and running water.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2an important basic fact or piece of knowledge about a subject the essentials of English grammar
Check pronunciation: essential