essay

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“
Shirky has some interesting stuff to say about the future -- he thinks that entrepreneurs like Craig Newmark will likely create the institutions that replace newspapers -- but the best part of the essay is the beginning, when he describes how newspaper companies failed to consider the possibility that their industry was undergoing a revolution:

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.
  2. noun Something resembling such a composition: a photojournalistic essay.
  3. noun A testing or trial of the value or nature of a thing: an essay of the students' capabilities.
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Examples (50)

  • "We thought that the essay was the perfect extension of the other co-curricular activities already on campus," he said. —  Durangoherald.com
  • This essay is the third and final in a multi-part series about a personal experience with colorectal cancer. —  Dane101
  • This essay is the first in a multi-part series about a personal experience with colorectal cancer. —  Dane101
  • This essay is the second in a multi-part series about a personal experience with colorectal cancer. —  Dane101
  • Editor's Note: This essay is a condensed version of a paper originally commissioned by the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) for its Academic Paper Series. —  Foreign Policy In Focus
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

poem ·  treatise ·  lecture ·  novel ·  pamphlet ·  discourse ·  biography ·  commentary ·  article ·  sketch ·  criticism ·  journal

Used in the same contextWord Family

essay:   essays ·  essayed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French essai, trial, attempt, from Old French, from essayer, to attempt, from Vulgar Latin *exagiāre, to weigh out, from Late Latin exagium, a weighing : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin agere, to drive; see ag- in Indo-European roots. V., from Middle English assaien, from Old French assaer, assaier, variant of essayer.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. The older English form is assay, q. v.; from Middle English assay, asay, assai, asaie, trial, attempt, from Old French asai, essai, essay (later only essai, later later English essay), modern F. essai = Provencal essay = Spanish ensayo = Portuguese ensaio = Italian saggio, assay, trial, experiment, from Late Latin exagium, a weighing, a weight, a balance, from L. *exagere, exigere, past participle exactus, drive out, require, exact, examine, try, from ex, out, + agere, drive, lead, bring, etc. See examen, examine, from the same source. The Greek ἐξάγιον, sometimes quoted as the origin of the L. exagium, is rare LGr., and is taken from the L. term; it denotes a certain weight, 1½ drachmæ. Popular etymology altered the form to ἑξάγιον, as if from ἑξ = English six.
  2. The older English form is assay, q. v.; from Middle English assayen, asayen, assaien, asaien, try, make trial of, from Old French asaier, essayer, French essayer = Provencal assaiar, essaier = Spanish ensayar = Portuguese ensaiar = Italian saggiare, assaggiare, try; from the noun.
 

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/ɛˈseɪ/
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