inessential

/ˌɪnɪˈsɛnʃəl/

Other forms: inessentials

Something inessential isn't terribly important or necessary. While you need certain nutrients to stay alive and healthy, things like doughnuts and milkshakes are inessential parts of your diet.

The ornamental fireplace in your house that's never used is inessential, but the wood stove that heats your kitchen all winter is not. Inessential details can complicate books, essays, or legal documents, making them harder to understand. The adjective inessential adds the prefix in-, or "not," to essential, "extremely important," from the Latin root essentia, "being or essence."

Definitions of inessential

1. adjective

   not absolutely necessary
   synonyms:

   unnecessary, unneeded

   not necessary
2. adjective

   not basic or fundamental
   synonyms: unessential

   accessorial

   nonessential but helpful

   adscititious

   supplemental; not part of the real or essential nature of a thing

   incidental, nonessential

   not of prime or central importance

   dispensable

   capable of being dispensed with or done without

   expendable

   suitable to be expended

   unimportant

   not important

   extrinsic

   not forming an essential part of a thing or arising or originating from the outside

   unnecessary, unneeded

   not necessary

   secondary

   being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate

   antonyms:

   essential

   basic and fundamental

   crucial, important

   of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis

   basal, primary

   of primary importance

   biogenic

   essential for maintaining the fundamental life processes

   constituent, constitutional, constitutive, organic

   constitutional in the structure of something (especially your physical makeup)

   must

   highly recommended

   no-frills

   characterized by the absence of inessential features

   staple

   necessary or important, especially regarding food or commodities

   substantial, substantive

   having a firm basis in reality and being therefore important, meaningful, or considerable

   virtual

   existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact

   life-sustaining, vital

   performing an essential function in the living body

   indispensable

   not to be dispensed with; essential

   unexpendable

   not suitable to be expended

   important, of import

   of great significance or value

   intrinsic, intrinsical

   belonging to a thing by its very nature

   necessary

   absolutely essential

   primary

   of first rank or importance or value; direct and immediate rather than secondary
3. noun

   anything that is not essential
   “they discarded all their inessentials”

   synonyms: nonessential

   antonyms:

   essential

   anything indispensable

   types:

   adjunct

   something added to another thing but not an essential part of it

   accompaniment, complement

   something added to complete or embellish or make perfect

   type of:

   thing

   a separate and self-contained entity