The phrase "less essential than" is correct and usable in written English.
It is commonly used when comparing two parts of a sentence or two pieces of information to show that one is not as necessary or important as the other. Here is an example: "Although exercise is important for overall health, it is less essential than maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet."
Performances like the ones in this set are too often considered detritus, less essential than an artist's formal releases.
"The logic was that sanitation represents a uniformed work force in the city that is no less essential than the others," Mr. Turso said.
Linney's next big role, in a project as risky as any she has done, asks questions no less essential than these.
The battlefields of the 21st century are almost certain to be in countries without large standing armies, air forces or navies, where overwhelming force will be less essential than swiftness and maneuverability and where austere conditions or inaccessible, rugged terrain will require self-sustaining units like those the Marines operate.
Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" marked a shift in detective fiction, away from decorous country-house puzzles into a meaner, starker, bleaker kind of urban crime thriller, in which the mechanics of the crime were often less essential than the atmosphere through which the characters moved.
The watermass stratification that often accompanies flagellate blooms is probably a secondary, parallel event and less essential than some other factor(s) in triggering the observed bloom.
As it is obvious from Fig. 7 f, facultative organisms have significantly less essential reactions than non-facultative organisms (p=1.7×10−4).
Competing with the poll story for prominence were two articles about China that lacked an edge, a piece on the upcoming G.O.P. campaign pledge, a report on city hall recall campaigns around the country, and a story about a study's findings that mammograms could possibly be less essential for some than previously thought.
Other critics insist that even if care is a bona fide moral virtue, it is a less essential moral virtue than justice.
Some have written that the iPad 3 will get Siri, Apple's popular voice command assistant, but this seems far from certain, and voice controls on a tablet seem far less essential and helpful than voice controls on a cell phone.
As these two different interventions have a similar effect on experimental metastasis, our data imply that barrier protective-properties of the glycocalyx are less essential for metastasis than its functions in cancer cell adhesion or growth factor storage [28].
