The direct, essential meaning of a term is its

The correct answer should be something like definition or denotation. The definition is our understanding of the word at its most basic level, stripped of implicit meanings that we create on our own. Connotative meaning would come when all of our understanding of the world and all of our prejudices are combined in order to create a more complex meaning unique to us.

Ibelieve the answer is d

This is a complete adjective clause.