Link Centre Dictionary

essence

es·sence

UK/ˈɛsəns/ US/ˈɛsʌns/ fairly common

noun

1.

the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

  • “the gist of the prosecutor”
  • “;”
  • “;”
Synonyms
2.

any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted

3.
4.

a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor

Synonyms

Origin

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”). Displaced native Old English understandennes (literally, "understanden-ness").

Phrases

  • coffee essence
  • essence peddler
  • in essence
  • of the essence
  • time is of the essence
  • vanilla essence

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.