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Essential vs Universal - What's the difference?

essential | universal | Related terms |

Essential is a related term of universal.


As adjectives the difference between essential and universal

is that essential is necessary while universal is of or pertaining to the universe.

As nouns the difference between essential and universal

is that essential is a necessary ingredient while universal is (philosophy) a characteristic or property that particular things have in common.

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.

    • Related terms

    * essence ----

    universal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to the universe.
  • Common to all members of a group or class.
  • *
  • *
  • Common to all society; world-wide
    • She achieved universal fame.
  • Cosmic; unlimited; vast; infinite
  • Useful for many purposes, e.g., universal wrench .

    • Derived terms

    * universalise, universalize * universal quantifier

    Related terms

    * universe * university

    Antonyms

    * nonuniversal

    See also

    * (wikipedia "universal") * general * global

    External links

    * *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (philosophy) A characteristic or property that particular things have in common.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, year=1970, title=Speech acts, author=John R. Searle
    • , passage=We might also distinguish those expressions which are used to refer to individuals or particulars from those which are used to refer to what philosophers have called universals : e.g., to distinguish such expressions as "Everest" and "this chair" from "the number three", "the color red" and "drunkenness". citation

    See also

    * particular

    External links

    * * The Medieval Problem of Universals - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ----