essence

CEFRC1

/ˈɛsəns/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The basic or most important quality of something.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Constituent substance.

Examples

  • His paintings capture the essence of France.

  • The essence of liberty is mathematics.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.

  2. The inherent nature of a thing or idea.

  3. A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.

More examples

In context

  • The essence of mathematics is liberty.

  • 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.

  • essence of Jojoba

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank of her argument was that education should be free for all.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).