quintessence
Meanings
Plural: quintessences
Noun
- the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies
- the purest and most concentrated essence of something
- the most typical example or representative of a type
- A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.
- A pure substance.
- The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.
- The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.
- A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.
Verb
- To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.
Origin / Etymology
PIE word
*pénkʷe
From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French, from Medieval Latin quinta essentia (“fifth essence, aether”). "Essence" in this context is a synonym for "element". In pre-atomic/Aristotelian theory, there are four known elements or essences — Earth, Air, Fire and Water — and a putative fifth element (aether), which is considered to be of exceptional superior quality to the other four basic elements.
Synonyms
aether, archetype, bowels, brass tacks, core, crux, deets, details, distillation, drift, epitome, essence, ether, example, exemplar, gist, gravamen, guts, heart, heart and soul, heartstring, heartstrings, icon, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, model, moral of the story, nitty-gritty, nub, nuts and bolts, paradigm, paragon, pattern, pith, punctum saliens, quintessence, simple, soul, spirit, stuff, substance, template, tenor
Scrabble Score: 23
quintessence is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordquintessence is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
quintessence is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary