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What is the difference between basic and essential?

basic | essential |

As adjectives the difference between basic and essential

is that basic is necessary, essential for life or some process while essential is necessary.

As nouns the difference between basic and essential

is that basic is a necessary commodity, a staple requirement while essential is a necessary ingredient.

As a proper noun BASIC

is a family of third-generation programming languages (c.1964 on).

basic

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Necessary, essential for life or some process.
  • Flour is a basic ingredient of bread.
  • Elementary, simple, fundamental, merely functional.
  • The Hotel Sparta’s accommodation is purely basic .
  • (chemistry) Of or pertaining to a base; having a pH greater than 7.
  • (slang) Vapid, boring, or uncool.
  • * 2011 , (Kreayshawn), "(Gucci Gucci)", (w, Somethin' 'Bout Kreay) :
  • Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada / Them basic bitches wear that shit, so I don't even bother
  • * 2013 , Sam Stryker, " Why Does Everyone Hate Anne Hathaway?", The Observer (University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College), Volume 46, Issue 101, 1 March 2013, page 11:
  • I'm not saying people are jealous of Hathaway because she is so perfect. Yes, she does have it all — husband, healthy career, good looks. But she doesn't do anything in an "awesome" way. She's basic .
  • * 2014 , Trevor Thrall, " Firing Line: Rowling says ‘JK,’ Ron and Hermione not meant to be", The Daily Campus (Southern Methodist University), Volume 99, Issue 54, 3 February 2014, page 4:
  • And what can be said about Ginny? She’s basic . My guess is that she spends her time drinking pumpkin spice lattes and watching “Pretty Little Liars.” The Chosen One is way out of her quidditch league.
  • *
  • Synonyms

    * See also * (chemistry) alkaline

    Antonyms

    * (chemistry) acidic

    Derived terms

    * basically * BASIC

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A necessary commodity, a staple requirement.
  • Rice is a basic for many Asian villagers.
  • An elementary building block, e.g. a fundamental piece of knowledge.
  • Arithmetic is a basic for the study of mathematics.
  • (military) Basic training.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    essential

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Necessary.
  • Very important; of high importance.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-17
  • , author=George Monbiot, authorlink=George Monbiot , title=Money just makes the rich suffer , volume=188, issue=23, page=19 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. […]}}
  • Being in the basic form; showing its essence.
  • Don’t mind him being grumpy. That’s the essential Fred.
  • Really existing; existent.
  • * Webster (1623)
  • Is it true, that thou art but a name, / And no essential thing?
  • Such that each complementary region is irreducible, the boundary of each complementary region is incompressible by disks and monogons in the complementary region, and no leaf is a sphere or a torus bounding a solid torus in the manifold.
  • (medicine) Idiopathic.
  • Synonyms

    * indispensable, crucial, substantive * See also

    Antonyms

    * inessential, unessential, accidental, nonessential, unneeded, adscititious, unimportant, accessorial, unnecessary, incidental

    Derived terms

    * essential amino acid * essential fatty acid * essential listening * essential nutrient * essential oil * essentially * essentialness * quintessential

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A necessary ingredient.
  • A fundamental ingredient.