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ESSENCE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor
Synonyms:
essence; perfume
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("essence" is a kind of...):
toilet articles; toiletry (artifacts used in making your toilet (washing and taking care of your body))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "essence"):
cologne; cologne water; eau de cologne (a perfumed liquid made of essential oils and alcohol)
pachouli; patchouli; patchouly (a heavy perfume made from the patchouli plant)
perfumery (perfumes in general)
potpourri (a jar of mixed flower petals and spices used as perfume)
rose water (perfume consisting of water scented with oil of roses)
eau de toilette; toilet water (a perfumed liquid lighter than cologne)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
Example:
the nub of the story
Synonyms:
center; centre; core; essence; gist; heart; heart and soul; inwardness; kernel; marrow; meat; nitty-gritty; nub; pith; substance; sum
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("essence" is a kind of...):
cognitive content; content; mental object (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "essence"):
bare bones ((plural) the most basic facts or elements)
hypostasis ((metaphysics) essential nature or underlying reality)
haecceity; quiddity (the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other)
quintessence (the purest and most concentrated essence of something)
stuff (a critically important or characteristic component)
Derivation:
essential (of the greatest importance)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
Synonyms:
burden; core; effect; essence; gist
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("essence" is a kind of...):
import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("essence" is a kind of...):
substance (the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists)
Derivation:
essential (being or relating to or containing the essence of a plant etc)
Context examples:
The use of fragrant essences or extracts from plants to treat a variety of health conditions and support and balance the mind, body, and spirit.
(Aromatherapy and Essential Oils, NCI Thesaurus)
When signaling, they function in essence as dimers because the signal is communicated either by the Ga subunit or the Gbg complex.
(Heterotrimeric G Protein, NCI Thesaurus)
I was just beginning to stifle with the fumes of conservatory flowers and sprinkled essences, when I bethought myself to open the window and step out on to the balcony.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It was an emanation of her spirit, a pure and gracious crystallization of her divine essence.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
This approach of culturing circulating cancer cells in the blood, analyzing them for new mutations that have developed during therapy, and testing the utility of drugs targeting those mutations could become the essence of individually adjusted cancer therapy in the future.
(Isolated cancer cells may lead to personalized treatments, NIH)
Rather, as there was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now faced me—something seizing, surprising and revolting—this fresh disparity seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in the man’s nature and character, there was added a curiosity as to his origin, his life, his fortune and status in the world.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was the very essence of the unknown; it was the sum of the terrors of the unknown, the one culminating and unthinkable catastrophe that could happen to him, about which he knew nothing and about which he feared everything.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
She came up to me one evening, when I was very low, to ask (she being then afflicted with the disorder I have mentioned) if I could oblige her with a little tincture of cardamums mixed with rhubarb, and flavoured with seven drops of the essence of cloves, which was the best remedy for her complaint;—or, if I had not such a thing by me, with a little brandy, which was the next best.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It is likewise to be observed, that this society has a peculiar cant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which they take special care to multiply; whereby they have wholly confounded the very essence of truth and falsehood, of right and wrong; so that it will take thirty years to decide, whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me, or to a stranger three hundred miles off.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
