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# essentially

«essentially» in Mova's school dictionary: **basically, in the most important way, when you leave out…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adverb (essentially)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Essentially means basically, in the most important way, when you leave out small details. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#m1)

2) (formal) Essentially can mean necessarily, as something that must be there. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Used in explanations and summaries: «essentially, a bat is a flying mammal». In arguments it introduces the main point. Phrases: essentially the same, is essentially, essentially means.

### examples

- A tadpole is essentially a baby frog. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x1)
- The two games are essentially the same, just with different colours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x2)
- Essentially, we need more chairs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x3)
- The story is essentially about friendship. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x4)
- Multiplication is essentially repeated addition. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x5)
- The plan is essentially finished. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x6)
- This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/#x7)

### note

Comes from essential and essence. Note double l: essentially. Spoken English sometimes overuses it as a filler. In maths «essentially the same» does not mean exactly equal — check the numbers.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «essentially» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/essentially/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.