Is it true, that thou art but a name,
And no essential thing?
Webster (1623).
3. Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary.
Judgment's more essential to a general
Than courage.
Denham.
How to live? -- that is the essential question for us.
H. Spencer.
4. Containing the essence or characteristic portion of a substance, as of a plant; highly rectified; pure; hence, unmixed; as, an essential oil. "Mine own essential horror." Ford.
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5. (Mus.) Necessary; indispensable; -- said of those tones which constitute a chord, in distinction from ornamental or passing tones.