Essence1. (n.) That quality which marks the true nature of anything, as a neighbor who is the essence of hospitality; the constituent qualities of an object or being; the real being, divested of all logical accidents; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality of a thing, separated from its grosser parts.
2. (n.) The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence.
3. (n.) Constituent substance.
4. (n.) A being; esp., a purely spiritual being.
5. (n.) 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.
6. (n.) Perfume; odor; scent; or the volatile matter constituting perfume.
7. (v. t.) To perfume; to scent.
Thesaurus Entries
affective meaning, ambergris, ambrosia, aroma, aromatic, aromatic gum, aromatic water, artifact, aspect, at bottom, attar, attar of roses, attribute, au fond, axiom, balm, balm of Gilead, balsam, basically, basis, bay oil, be-all and end-all, bearing, being, bench mark, bergamot oil, best part, better part, body, bottom, brainchild, breath, bulk, burden, cardinal point, case, center, champaca oil, chapter, chief thing, child, civet, climax, coinage, coloring, composition, concentrate, concentration, concern, concoction, connotation, consequence, core, cornerstone, creation, creature, crisis, critical, critical point, crowning achievement, crucial, crux, decoction, definite odor, denotation, detectable odor, distillate, distillation, drift, effect, effluvium, element, elixir, emanation, end product, ens, entity, esse, essential, essential matter, essential oil, essentiality, essentially, exhalation, existence, extension, extract, extraction, fabric, fiber, fixative, flavor, flower, focus, focus of attention, focus of interest, force, form, fragrance, fruit, fume, fundamental, fundamentally, generality, gist, grammatical meaning, gravamen, great point, handiwork, head, heading, heart, heliotrope, high point, hypostasis, idea, impact, implication, import, important, important thing, in effect, in essence, indispensable, infusion, inner essence, intension, invention, inwardness, issue, jasmine oil, kernel, keystone, landmark, lavender oil, lexical meaning, life, literal meaning, living issue, main body, main point, main thing, major part, majority, manufacture, marrow, mass, masterpiece, masterwork, material, material point, materiality, materially, matter, matter in hand, meaning, meat, medium, milestone, mintage, most, motif, motive, musk, myrcia oil, myrrh, nature, new mintage, nub, nubbin, nucleus, nuts and bolts, occurrence, odor, of the essence, offspring, opera, opus, opuscule, origination, outcome, outgrowth, overtone, parfum, perfume, perfumery, pertinence, pith, pivot, plurality, point, point at issue, point in question, postulate, practical consequence, presence, principle, problem, product, production, property, purification, purport, quality, question, quid, quiddity, quintessence, quintessential, range of meaning, real issue, real meaning, recap, recapitulation, redolence, reference, referent, refinement, relation, relevance, requisite, result, resume, rock bottom, root, rose oil, rubric, run-through, rundown, salient point, sap, savor, scent, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, sine qua non, smell, soul, span of meaning, spirit, spoor, stench, structural meaning, stuff, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, subsistence