essence

/ˈɛsəns/

essence noun: the inherent nature of a thing or idea.

Noun

essence (countable and uncountable, plural essences)

The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
- 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.1713 September 21, Joseph Addison, The Guardian, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, volume IV, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, page 263
- 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.1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Oliver Cromwel and Walter Noble”, in Imaginary Conversations, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, published 1826, page 105
Synonyms:

quintessence
The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
Constituent substance.
- 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[…]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.
- 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 /...1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- 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.1824, Washington Irving, “The Adventure of the German Student”, in The Works of Washington Irving, new edition, volume VII, New York: G. P. Putnam & Company, published 1853, page 55
A significant feature of something.

Synonyms:

gist
The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through an extraction or distillation process.
- essence of Jojoba
An extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter used for flavouring, or as a restorative.
- vanilla essence
- She bathed the face of the sleeper with some essence, raised her in her arms, and called upon her name.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 78
Fragrance, a perfume.
- 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[…]1712, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Beauties of Pope, London: G. Kearsley, published 1783, page 36
Synonyms:

aroma

Proper noun capitalized: Essence

Essence

A female given name of African-American usage.

essence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

essence in Hindi

inherent nature: तत्त्व tattva, ज़ात zāt, जौहर jauhar, सार sār

essence in Marathi

essence: सार sār, रस ras
essence, reality: तत्व tatva
the essence or centre of something: गर्भ garbha

essence in Urdu

inherent nature: جَوہَر jauhar, ماہِیَّت māhiyyat, ذات zāt, اَصْل asl

More languagesFewer languages

essence in Bengali: সার śar
essence in Telugu: సారము sāramu, పూనీరు pūnīru, భూతము bhūtamu
essence in Malayalam: സത്ത് sattŭ, സാരം sāraṁ, സാരാംശം sārāṁśaṁ, കാതൽ kātal
essence in Kannada: ವಸ್ತು vastu
essence in Punjabi: روح rūḥ, ਰੂਹ rūh, ਜ਼ਾਤ zāt, ਜੌਹਰ jauhar
essence in Gujarati: અમી amī
essence in Sanskrit: धर्मता dharmatā
essence in Assamese: আতৰ ator
essence in Nepali: सार
essence in Pashto: جوهر jawhar, ماهيت māhiyát
essence in Arabic: جَوْهَر jawhar, مَاهِيَّة māhiyya, ذَات ḏāt
essence in Malay: intipati, zat
essence in Indonesian: esensi, hakikat, inti, intisari
essence in Thai: แก่น gɛ̀n, สาระ sǎa-rá, ใจความ jai-kwaam, สารัตถะ
essence in Vietnamese: bản chất

Examples of essence in a sentence

The metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas holds that all real beings have both essence and existence.
They are focused on one-upmanship, which is the essence of a competitive spirit.
VW is the essence of speed in machine learning, able to learn from terafeature datasets with ease.

All 40 example sentences with essence

Synonyms of essence

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

marrow

All synonyms of essence

Forms of essence

plural	essences

Plural of essence: essences

Origin of essence

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").

Words formed from essence

Phrases with essence

essence peddlers

Words that rhyme with essence

Questions about essence

What does essence mean?: Essence means the inherent nature of a thing or idea.
What is essence in Hindi?: Essence in Hindi is तत्त्व (tattva), ज़ात (zāt), जौहर (jauhar). See Essence meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is essence?: Essence can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce essence?: Essence is pronounced /ˈɛsəns/.
What is the plural of essence?: The plural of essence is essences.

Words near essence in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-essence.ogg.

Cite this entry: “essence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/essence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.