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What is the difference between indispensable and essential?

indispensable | essential | Synonyms |

Essential is a synonym of indispensable.



As adjectives the difference between indispensable and essential

is that indispensable is not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules while essential is necessary.

As nouns the difference between indispensable and essential

is that indispensable is a thing that is not dispensable; a necessity while essential is a necessary ingredient.

indispensable

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (ecclesiastical, obsolete) Not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules.
  • The law was moral and indispensable . -Bp. Burnet
  • Absolutely necessary or requisite; that one cannot do without.
  • An indispensable component of a heart-healthy diet.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
  • , title=Internal Combustion , chapter=2 citation , passage=But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * dispensable

    Derived terms

    * indispensability * indispensableness * indispensably

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A thing that is not dispensable; a necessity.
  • (in the plural, colloquial, dated) Trousers.
  • ----

    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.