essence
Americannoun
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the basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature or features.
Freedom is the very essence of our democracy.
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a substance obtained from a plant, drug, or the like, by distillation, infusion, etc., and containing its characteristic properties in concentrated form.
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an alcoholic solution of an essential oil; spirit.
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a perfume; scent.
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Philosophy. the inward nature, true substance, or constitution of anything, as opposed to what is accidental, phenomenal, illusory, etc.
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something that exists, especially a spiritual or immaterial entity.
idioms
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of the essence, absolutely essential; critical; crucial.
In chess, cool nerves are of the essence.
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in essence, essentially; at bottom, often despite appearances.
For all his bluster, he is in essence a shy person.
noun
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the characteristic or intrinsic feature of a thing, which determines its identity; fundamental nature
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the most distinctive element of a thing
the essence of a problem
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a perfect or complete form of something, esp a person who typifies an abstract quality
he was the essence of gentility
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philosophy
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the unchanging and unchangeable nature of something which is necessary to its being the thing it is; its necessary properties Compare accident
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the properties in virtue of which something is called by its name
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the nature of something as distinct from, and logically prior to, its existence
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theol an immaterial or spiritual entity
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the constituent of a plant, usually an oil, alkaloid, or glycoside, that determines its chemical or pharmacological properties
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an alcoholic solution of such a substance
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a substance, usually a liquid, containing the properties of a plant or foodstuff in concentrated form
vanilla essence
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a rare word for perfume
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essentially; fundamentally
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indispensable; vitally important
Other Word Forms
- self-essence noun
Etymology
Origin of essence
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English essencia, from Medieval Latin, from Latin essentia, equivalent to esse + -ence
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“This is in essence a scarlet-letter designation for Anthropic that puts this AI stalwart in the same category as the Chinese tech player Huawei in the U.S.,”
From MarketWatch
“This is in essence a scarlet-letter designation for Anthropic that puts this AI stalwart in the same category as the Chinese tech player Huawei in the U.S.,”
From MarketWatch
"The people using these products are, in essence, becoming lab rats," Adam Taylor, professor of anatomy at Lancaster University, explains.
From BBC
In essence, his attacking output has more than halved.
From BBC
In essence, Ivanov said, "It's the highest redshift, spectroscopically confirmed, unlensed barred spiral galaxy."
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
