quintessence

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Funny how, in an article about a violent religious conflict (which liberals describe as the quintessence of religion), only one of the religions is named.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.
  2. noun The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil.
  3. noun In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, thought to be the substance of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things.

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Examples (50)

  • Our latest measurements clearly predict a universe that accelerates its expansion, driven by some component we do not know --quintessence, some call it. —  F ;SF - vol 100 issue 04 - April 2001
  • And for the first time in a long year, Ember-Musk smelled their individual scents, warm ash and cool greenmint, wafting and swirling and intermingling into a new aroma he could only describe as the quintessence of harmony holo-seg 1 of 15 [] shiptime 09:05:01 [] 11/01/2251 — Danger! —  InterzoneScienceFictionandFantasyMagazine#214
  • Funny how, in an article about a violent religious conflict (which liberals describe as the quintessence of religion), only one of the religions is named. —  Latest Articles
  • Be sure an iron cross quickly hung over the iron heart that conceived and developed this filthy arm; for does it not offer the essence--quintessence of all "frightfulness?" —  Raemaekers' Cartoons With Accompanying Notes by Well-known English Writers
  • Let other people go through the toil to acquire; their aim is truth: but here is beauty in its quintessence, and what is beauty but three parts of truth? —  Miss Bretherton
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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. Middle English, from Old French quinte essence, fifth essence, from Medieval Latin quīnta essentia (translation of Greek pemptē ousiā) : Latin quīnta, feminine of quīntus, fifth; see penkwe in Indo-European roots + Latin essentia, essence; see essence.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English quintessence, from Old French (and F.) quintessence = Italian quintessenza = Middle Latin quinta essentia, fifth essence: L. quinta, feminine of quintus, fifth; essentia, being or essence: see quint and essence.
  2. from quintessence, n.
 

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/kwɪnˈtɛsəns/
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