Word.ws English Dictionary

essent

/ˈɛsənt/

essent noun: that which is; an entity, a being, an existent.

Noun

essent (plural essents)

  1. that which is; an entity, a being, an existent
    • Why are there essents rather than nothing? That is the question. Clearly it is no ordinary question. “Why are there essents, why is there anything at all, rather than nothing?”—obviously this is the first of all questions, though not in a chronological sense.1959, Martin Heidegger, translated by Ralph Manheim, An Introduction to Metaphysics, page 1
    • As against this, the non-conceptual creative word, instead of enabling us to grasp and lay hold of what is already there before us, instead of serving merely as a means to describing what is present, calls into being. It is evocative of Being; it invokes that presence (Anwesenheit), i.e., Being...1992, Jarava Lal Mehta, edited by William J. Jackson, J.L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition, page 51

Examples of essent in a sentence

  • It is evocative of Being; it invokes that presence (Anwesenheit), i.e., Being, within which (in the light of which) anything can appear before us as an essent.1992, Jarava Lal Mehta, edited by William J. Jackson, J.L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition, page 51:
  • The essent can be things at our disposal; things at hand such as tools, or vehicles.2007, Marko Zlomislić, Jacques Derrida’s Aporetic Ethics, page 116:

Forms of essent

pluralessents

Origin of essent

Pseudo-Latinism, coined by Ralph Manheim in his 1959 English translation of Martin Heidegger’s Einführung in die Metaphysik to render German Seiendes (as distinct from Sein) on the basis of *essens, a pseudo-Latin present participle of sum.

Words that rhyme with essent

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about essent

What does essent mean?
Essent means that which is; an entity, a being, an existent.
How do you use essent in a sentence?
It is evocative of Being; it invokes that presence (Anwesenheit), i.e., Being, within which (in the light of which) anything can appear before us as an essent.
What part of speech is essent?
Essent is a noun.
How do you pronounce essent?
Essent is pronounced /ˈɛsənt/.
What is the plural of essent?
The plural of essent is essents.

Words near essent in the dictionary

  1. Essenic
  2. Essenism
  3. Essenisms
  4. Essenmacher
  5. Essenmachers
  6. essent
  7. essentiability
  8. essential
  9. essential amino acid
  10. essential amino acids
  11. essential clause

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: essent (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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