Definition of "of the essence" [of the essence]

• Important, indispensable, crucial. (adjective)

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• "Our language offers an extraordinarily telling formula of the essence of these changes: the fighter must “pull himself together” “sich zusammennehmen”."
• "Speed, as everybody knew, was of the essence and so the launching of attacks by individual companies tended to be at their own discretion, acknowledged by battalion commanders and vetted by Oblensky."
• "As a rescue leader with the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council and one of my many mentors, Steve was acutely aware that time was of the essence in the developing situation."