The words Essential and Necessary are important in every part of human life. One should understand the difference between them and find what is essential and what is necessary for human life.
Then only they can prioritize things according to that. This is because many people confuse the words necessary as the same and think both are important and cannot live without them.
Key Takeaways
- Essential and necessary both refer to something that is required or vital.
- Essential implies that something is indispensable or critical, while necessary implies something is required but may not be as critical.
- Essential is used to describe the most important components of something, while necessary is used to describe requirements or prerequisites.
Essential vs Necessary
Essentially refers to something required or necessary for something else to exist or function. For example, oxygen is vital for human life. Necessary refers to something that is required for a specific purpose or objective. It implies that something is needed to achieve a desired result or outcome.
Essential is completely necessary. It is the fundamental part of nature.
One of the best examples of essential is innate intelligence. Some vital services are police, armed forces, corrections, firefighting, and utilities.
In MCO, some of the essential services are petroleum supply, water supply, and transportation maintenance services. Essential has high importance in life.
The simple definition of necessary is it is needed. Critical does not mean we cannot live without that.
For example, food is necessary for human life. But humans can live without food for a day.
It does not mean they have to consume food continuously. Likewise, things that fall under the category of necessity in life mean we can also live without them.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Essential | Necessary |
|---|---|---|
| Importance | It is essential but we can do things in our life without that. | It is not used for referring to law. |
| Law | It is used for referring to law. | For achieving desired results, hard work is necessary. |
| Derived from | Middle English | Latin |
| Example | Water is essential for human survival. | For achieving desired results hard work is necessary. |
| Meaning | It is stronger. | It is needed. |
What is Essential?
It is something necessary and significant. It is that important as to be indispensable.
It belongs to the very nature of the thing. All our basic human needs are essential.
It is not limited to food, health care, and water. Essential workers are people who conduct a range of operations and services.
These people are essential for continuing critical infrastructure operations. This is because vital infrastructure is extensive.
It has sectors ranging from energy to defence to agriculture. Essential humanity is vitally important.
Essential services are functions and services that are needed during pandemics. They help maintain the welfare and health of the municipality.
If something is not necessary in life, then it is called non-essential. There are seven essentials that a human being needs.
The first is survival and safety. The second is connection and acceptance.
Third is esteem, significance, and identity. The fourth is self-fulfilment and self-transcendence.
The fifth is understanding and growth. The sixth is contribution and creation.
The final essential is self-direction, freedom, and justice. There are crucial industries called emergency services and healthcare sectors.
They help people during emergency crises and protect their health. Essential needs are critical because they have the potential to become economic demands.
What is Necessary?
Necessary means it should be done and it is needed. There is a necessary condition that should be present for an event to occur.
A sufficient condition is also called a set of conditions to produce an event. Necessary comes under the type noun or an adjective.
It applies to something without which a condition in our life cannot be fulfilled. In philosophy, necessary means a modal property of a true proposition.
Necessary action is taken with respect to a result required to be caused. Many people confuse necessary with need. But the market is a requirement for something.
Necessary can be easily used in our daily sentences. There are many examples available on the internet that will help you identify where you need to use necessary and where you should not.
Because some people confuse necessary with essential and use them in place of crucial.
Self-control is necessary for human life. If we fail to control ourselves, it will lead to many consequences in life.
Sometimes controlling our emotions, anger, and happiness will help us in certain situations. There are times when we should focus on what the other person says instead of thinking about what our point is necessary.
In life, the word necessary plays an important role. Taking care of our health and living our life to the fullest is essential.
Main Differences Between Essential and Necessary
- The importance of essential is that we cannot do things without that. On the other hand, the importance of necessity is that we can do things without that.
- An example of essential is, it is essential to understand the rules of grammar. On the other hand, the example of necessary is, it is necessary to understand these concepts.
- The word Essential is derived from Middle English. On the other hand, the word Necessary is derived from Latin.
- The meaning of essential is stronger. On the other hand, the meaning of necessary is needed.
- Essential is not used for referring to the law. On the other hand, necessary is not used for referring law.
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
I found the writing style to be quite dry and textbook-like.
I think that’s just a result of the subject matter. It’s a very technical topic.
This article is extremely informative and useful. It really helps clear up the confusion between these words.
I agree, a lot of people misunderstand the difference between these two words, and this does a good job of explaining it.
This was a great read! The examples were especially helpful.
This was an incredibly insightful article. I learned a lot from reading it.
Agreed! I feel like I have a much better grasp on the differences now.
I think the article could have gone into more detail, it feels a bit lacking in substance.
It’s a simple and straightforward explanation, I like that about it.
I disagree, I think the article covers everything it needs to without being too wordy.
I’m not convinced that this article really adds anything new to the conversation.