Definitions for essence
ˈɛs ənsessence

Princeton's WordNet(1.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. kernel, substance, core, center, centre, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty-gritty(noun)

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

   "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"

2. essence(noun)

   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. effect, essence, burden, core, gist(noun)

   the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work

4. perfume, essence(noun)

   a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor

Wiktionary(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. essence(Noun)

   The inherent nature of a thing or idea.

2. essence(Noun)

   A significant feature of something.

3. essence(Noun)

   The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through a distillation process.

4. essence(Noun)

   Fragrance, a perfume.

5. essence(Noun)

   The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.

Webster Dictionary(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Essence(noun)

   the constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

2. Essence(noun)

   the constituent quality or qualities which belong to any object, or class of objects, or on which they depend for being what they are (distinguished as real essence); the real being, divested of all logical accidents; that quality which constitutes or marks the true nature of anything; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality of a thing, separated from its grosser parts

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

3. Essence(noun)

   constituent substance

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

4. Essence(noun)

   a being; esp., a purely spiritual being

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

5. Essence(noun)

   the predominant qualities or virtues of a plant or drug, extracted and refined from grosser matter; or, more strictly, the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or essential oil; as, the essence of mint, and the like

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

6. Essence(noun)

   perfume; odor; scent; or the volatile matter constituting perfume

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

7. Essence(verb)

   to perfume; to scent

   Etymology: [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

Freebase(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Essence

   In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the entity or substance has contingently, without which the substance can still retain its identity. The concept originates with Aristotle, who used the Greek expression to ti ên einai, literally 'the what it was to be', or sometimes the shorter phrase to ti esti, literally 'the what it is,' for the same idea. This phrase presented such difficulties for his Latin translators that they coined the word essentia to represent the whole expression. For Aristotle and his scholastic followers the notion of essence is closely linked to that of definition. In the history of western thought, essence has often served as a vehicle for doctrines that tend to individuate different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties; in this eminently logical meaning, the concept has given a strong theoretical and common-sense basis to the whole family of logical theories based on the "possible worlds" analogy set up by Leibniz and developed in the intensional logic from Carnap to Kripke, which was later challenged by "extensionalist" philosophers such as Quine.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Essence

   es′ens, n. the inner distinctive nature of anything: the qualities which make any object what it is: a being: the extracted virtues of any drug: the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or essential oil: a perfume.—adj. Essen′tial, relating to or containing the essence: necessary to the existence of a thing: indispensable or important in the highest degree: highly rectified: pure.—n. something necessary: a leading principle.—n. Essential′ity, the quality of being essential: an essential part.—adv. Essen′tially.—n. Essen′tialness. [Fr.,—L. essentia—essens, -entis, assumed pr.p. of esse, to be.]

Editors Contribution(5.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. essence

   The just and fair qualities of the universes truth expressed through our body, brain, heart, mind, soul, spirit, conscience and consciousness.

   The essence of our soul is the universes truth.

   Submitted by MaryC on March 16, 2020  

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. essence

   Song lyrics by essence -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by essence on the Lyrics.com website.

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'essence' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4832

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'essence' in Nouns Frequency: #1879

Anagrams for essence »

1. senesce

How to pronounce essence?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say essence in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of essence in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of essence in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of essence in a Sentence

1. James Anthony Froude:

   The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.

2. Russian President Vladimir Putin:

   There’s no need to distract the public’s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it, but I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.

3. Unknown:

   The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience.

4. Friedrich Nietzsche:

   The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.

5. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

   I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us, those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence.

Images & Illustrations of essence

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