essence
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English essence, from Middle French essence, from Latin essentia (“the being or essence of a thing”), from an artificial formation of esse (“to be”), to translate Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía, “being”), from ὤν (ṓn), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “to be, exist”).
Inflected forms:
form: essences
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: CHARITY is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands, ſays an old writer. Gifts and alms are the expreſſions, not the eſſence of this virtue.
They [the laws] are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labours under ; the scorn of the wicked, the consternation of the good, the refuge of those who violate, and the ruin of those who appeal to them.
The essence of Addison’s humour is irony.
It may be that a free society as we have known it carries in itself the forces of its own destruction, that once freedom has been achieved it is taken for granted and ceases to be valued, and that the free growth of ideas which is the essence of a free society will bring about the destruction of the foundations on which it depends.
gloss: The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Constituent substance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: For Spirits when they pleaſe / Can either Sex aſſume, or both ; ſo ſoft / And uncompounded is their Eſſence pure, / Not ti’d or manacl’d with joynt or limb, / Nor founded on the brittle ſtrength of bones, / Like cumbrous fleſh[…]
gloss: A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: And put to proof his high Supremacy, / Whether upheld by ſtrength, or Chance, or Fate, / Too well I ſee and rue the dire event, / That with ſad overthrow and foul defeat / Hath loſt us Heav’n, and all this mighty Hoſt / In horrible deſtruction laid thus low, / As far as Gods and Heav’nly Eſſences / Can Periſh.
He [Gottfried Wolfgang] had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until, like Swedenborg, he had an ideal world of his own around him.
gloss: A significant feature of something.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through an extraction or distillation process.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: essence of Jojoba
gloss: An extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter used for flavouring, or as a restorative.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: vanilla essence
She bathed the face of the sleeper with some essence, raised her in her arms, and called upon her name.
There was no one to cook the necessary food that the invalids required to pick up their strength; no fowls to be bought, to make into the essence that is so generally given to fever patients wherever I have been since.
gloss: Fragrance, a perfume.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, / Not a leſs pleaſing, tho’ leſs glorious care ; / To ſave the powder from too rude a gale, / Nor let th’ impriſon’d eſſences exhale[…]
Synonyms: whatness
crux
bouquet
essence
nature
ousia
quiddity
marrow
Related words: essential
essentially
essentialism
quintessential
intrinsicality
gist
Derived words: coffee essence
essenced
essenceless
essence peddler
glabrescence
hyperessence
in essence
k-essence
of the essence
time is of the essence
paradessence
superessence
unessence
vanilla essence
Translations: