Essential thing
The crossword clue "Essential thing" is answered by MUST, a 4-letter entry. Used 6 times across 5 distinct years; most recently in 2025; first recorded in 1964. It appears in 4 publications in the xd corpus. Every figure on this page comes from the collection data itself, never from a guess.
The answer
MUST
4 letters. See every clue for this answer on the MUST answer page.
Used 6 times across 5 distinct years; most recently in 2025; first recorded in 1964. It appears in 4 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.
Other answers for this clue
The same clue has also been answered these ways in the xd corpus. Answers inside this collection link to their own answer page.
- NAMEOFTHEGAME (2 uses in xd)
- CARDINALPOINT (1 uses in xd)
- DIRENEED (1 uses in xd)
Other clues for MUST
Every other clue in this collection answered by MUST, most used first.
- Has to - used 69 times, most recently in 2026
- Requirement - used 21 times, most recently in 2025
- Have to - used 15 times, most recently in 2022
- Necessity - used 13 times, most recently in 2026
- Is required to - used 12 times, most recently in 2025
- Need to - used 12 times, most recently in 2024
- Needs to - used 8 times, most recently in 2025
- Can't help but - used 7 times, most recently in 2014
- Essential - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
- Has no choice - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
- Absolute requirement - used 6 times, most recently in 2016
- Is compelled to - used 6 times, most recently in 2025
- Is obliged to - used 6 times, most recently in 2024
- Nonnegotiable item - used 6 times, most recently in 2010
Related clues
Clues in this collection of the same answer length that share a word with this clue, or match its answer pattern when no word is shared. Most used first.
- Thing - ITEM, used 153 times
- Person, place or thing - NOUN, used 111 times
- "And another thing ..." - ALSO, used 97 times
- "Do the Right Thing" pizzeria - SALS, used 71 times
- Forbidden thing - NONO, used 69 times
- "One more thing . . ." - ALSO, used 59 times
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