Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to describe things, activities, and principles that are very important or necessary, and on which others depend.
One of the most ~ requirements for any form of angling is a sharp hook.
...the ~ skills of reading, writing and communicating.
...the ~ laws of physics...
Access to justice is a ~ right.
= fundamental
ADJ: usu ADJ n
2.
Basic goods and services are very simple ones which every human being needs. You can also refer to people’s ~ needs for such goods and services.
...shortages of even the most ~ foodstuffs...
Hospitals lack even ~ drugs for surgical operations.
...the ~ needs of food and water.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
3.
If one thing is ~ to another, it is absolutely necessary to it, and the second thing cannot exist, succeed, or be imagined without it.
...an oily liquid, ~ to the manufacture of a host of other chemical substances...
There are certain ethical principles that are ~ to all the great religions.
= central
ADJ: v-link ADJ to n
4.
You can use ~ to emphasize that you are referring to what you consider to be the most important aspect of a situation, and that you are not concerned with less important details.
There are three ~ types of tea...
The ~ design changed little from that patented by Edison more than 100 years ago...
The ~ point is that sanctions cannot be counted on to produce a sure result.
= fundamental
ADJ: ADJ n emphasis
5.
You can use ~ to describe something that is very simple in style and has only the most necessary features, without any luxuries.
We provide 2-person tents and ~ cooking and camping equipment.
...the extremely ~ hotel room.
ADJ
6.
Basic is used to describe a price or someone’s income when this does not include any additional amounts.
...an increase of more than twenty per cent on the ~ pay of a typical coalface worker...
The ~ price for a 10-minute call is only ?2.49.
ADJ: ADJ n
7.
The ~ rate of income tax is the lowest or most common rate, which applies to people who earn average incomes.
All this is to be done without big rises in the ~ level of taxation.
...a ~-rate taxpayer.
ADJ: ADJ n