The word essential seems to have become weakened. I was just writing a sentence where I used the word essential to mean "absolutely imperative must-have sine qua non," but it didn't seem to come out meaning that. It felt more like it just meant "yeah, important, just like lots of other things are important." I wonder when that happened?
Possible alternatives: vital, crucial.
1 comment:
Another example of language dilution. Add it to the list with awesome, hero, tragedy, literally...
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