essentially
Syllables: es·sen·tial·ly/ɪˈsɛnʃəli/
essentially adverb: in essence: by nature.
Adverb
essentially (comparative more essentially, superlative most essentially)
- In essence: by nature.
- Near-synonyms: actually, at bottom, at heart, basically, fundamentally, characteristically, centrally, substantially; see also Thesaurus:fundamentally
- The beaver is a social creature, not just occasionally but essentially.
- Synonyms:
- inherently, intrinsically, innately, naturally, quintessentially, in and of itself, per se, actually, at bottom, at heart
- In essence: in most ways that matter; in all ways that matter.
- A: So you're saying, in other words, that he's greedy? B: Essentially, yes, that's what I'm saying.
- Synonyms:
- basically, fundamentally, substantially, substantively, more or less, at bottom, at heart, au fond, by definition, deep down
essentially meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
essentially in Hindi
- essentially
- अनिवार्यतः anivāryataḥ
essentially in Tamil
- கட்டாயமாக
essentially in Bengali
- মূলত, অপরিহায্র্যরূপে, সারত, সারবানরূপে
essentially in Malayalam
- അടിസ്ഥാനപരമായി, അത്യന്താപേക്ഷിതമായി, പ്രധാനമായി
More languagesFewer languages
- essentially in Punjabi
- ਜ਼ਰੂਰੀ ਤੌਰ'ਤੇ
- essentially in Gujarati
- આવશ્યકપણે
Examples of essentially in a sentence
- A thin, crunchy lemon and thyme rosti was essentially the pimped-up aesthetic of the Kettle chip.2011 December 18, Jay Rayner, “Restaurant review: Aurelia”, in The Observer, →ISSN, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2022:
- Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
Synonyms of essentially
- inherently
- intrinsically
- innately
- naturally
- quintessentially
- in and of itself
- per se
- actually
- at bottom
- at heart
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- basically
- fundamentally
- characteristically
- centrally
- substantially
- au fond
- by definition
- deep down
- in effect
- in essence
- in the end
- in the final analysis
- ultimately
- substantively
- more or less
- all in all
- all things considered
- altogether
- broadly
- as a rule
- by and large
- chiefly
- feckly
- for the most part
- generally
- in the large
- in the main
- largely
- mainly
- mostly
Antonyms
Forms of essentially
| comparative | more essentially |
|---|---|
| superlative | most essentially |
Origin of essentially
From essential + -ly.
Questions about essentially
- What does essentially mean?
- Essentially means in essence: by nature.
- What is essentially in Hindi?
- Essentially in Hindi is अनिवार्यतः (anivāryataḥ). See Essentially meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use essentially in a sentence?
- A thin, crunchy lemon and thyme rosti was essentially the pimped-up aesthetic of the Kettle chip.
- What part of speech is essentially?
- Essentially is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce essentially?
- Essentially is pronounced /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/.
Words near essentially in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: essentially (page history and authors); अनिवार्यतः (Hindi) (page history and authors); essentially (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); essentially (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); essentially (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); essentially (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); essentially (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-essentially.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-essentially.wav.
Cite this entry: “essentially.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/essentially. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.