integral.

1. Necessary to the structure, operation or completeness of something.

2. A quantity or expression obtained by integration, representing accumulation or an antiderivative depending on the form.

3. Expressed as or consisting of a whole-number value rather than a fractional one.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• integral part
• integral component

On the page

Community consultation was integral to the design rather than an accessory to it.

The missing records were integral to understanding how the decision had been reached.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Comparative more integral; superlative most integral where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, comparison, evaluation. Disciplines: academic writing, institutional studies. Commonness: moderately common.