Lexic.us

Definition of Essence

1. Noun. The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience. "The nub of the story"

2. 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. Noun. The central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work.

4. Noun. A toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor.

Definition of Essence

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

2. v. t. To perfume; to scent.

Definition of Essence

1. Noun. The inherent nature of a thing or idea. ¹

2. Noun. A significant feature of something. ¹

3. Noun. The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through a distillation process. ¹

4. Noun. Fragrance, a perfume. ¹

5. Noun. (philosophy) The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Essence

1. a fundamental nature or quality [n -S]

Medical Definition of Essence

1. 1. The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence. 2. 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. "The laws are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labors under." (Landor) "Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue [charity]" (Addison) "The essence of Addison's humor is irony." (Courthope) 3. Constituent substance. "And uncompounded is their essence pure." (Milton) 4. A being; especially, a purely spiritual being. "As far as gods and heavenly essences Can perish." (Milton) "He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until . . . He had and ideal world of his own around him." (W. Irving) 5. 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. "The . . . Word essence . . . Scarcely underwent a more complete transformation when from being the abstract of the verb "to be," it came to denote something sufficiently concrete to be inclosed in a glass bottle." (J. S. Mill) 6. Perfume; odour; scent; or the volatile matter constituting perfume. "Nor let the essences exhale." (Pope) Origin: F. Essence, L. Essentia, formed as if fr. A p. Pr. Of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Essence

esquisses ess essay essayed essayer essayers essaying essayings essayish essayist

essayistic essayists essaylike essays esse essence (current term) essence of rose essenced essenceless essences

essene esseneite essential essential albuminuria essential amino acid essential amino acids essential anaemia essential anisocoria essential bradycardia essential condition

Literary usage of Essence

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1894)
"This, though it be all the essence of natural substances that which the •me know, or by which we distinguish them into sorts, yet I call "n™eex^ it by a ..."

2. A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental by David Hume (1890)
"It remains to exhibit briefly the disguises under which these inherent difficulties of his theory of essence appear in Locke. ..."

3. The Republic of Plato by Plato (1909)
"... quality of being known, but also their being and essence, though the good itself is not essence, but something far beyond essence in dignity and power. ..."

4. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1909)
"and since this being is regarded as ethical in essence, the conception of holiness is that of ethical purity. When, then, in Amos iv. ..."

5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and edited by Hugh Chisholm (1910)
"But at the same time the essence of good exists not only in God and God's intelligence on the one hand, but also on the other hand on a declining scale in ..."

6. The Works of John Locke by John Locke (1823)
"And thus I crave leave to answer your lordship's question—" For what is it makes the second sun to be a true sun, but having the same real essence with ..."

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