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Essence vs Basis - What's the difference?

essence | basis | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between essence and basis

is that essence is (inherent nature)The inherent nature of a thing or idea while basis is a starting point, base or foundation for an argument or hypothesis.

essence

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (senseid)The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
  • * Landor
    • The laws are at present, both in form and essence , the greatest curse that society labours under.
  • * Addison
    • Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue [charity].
  • * Courthorpe
    • The essence of Addison's humour is irony.
  • (philosophy) The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
  • Constituent substance.
  • * Milton
    • Uncompounded is their essence pure.
  • A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.
  • * Milton
    • As far as gods and heavenly essences / Can perish.
  • * Washington Irving
    • He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences , until he had an ideal world of his own around him.
  • A significant feature of something.
  • The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through a distillation process.
  • * essence of Jojoba
  • Fragrance, a perfume.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Nor let the essences exhale.

    Derived terms

    * in essence * of the essence; time is of the essence

    Related terms

    * essential * essentialism * quintessential

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    basis

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A starting point, base or foundation for an argument or hypothesis.
  • An underlying condition or circumstance.
  • * 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban'' (in ''The Guardian , 6 September 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/06/england-moldova-world-cup-qualifier-matchreport]
    • Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis , a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.
  • regular frequency
    • You should brush your teeth on a daily basis at minimum.
    The flights to Fiji leave on a weekly basis .
    Cars must be checked on a yearly basis .
  • (linear algebra) In a vector space, a linearly independent set of vectors spanning the whole vector space.
  • (accounting) Amount paid for an investment, including commissions and other expenses.
  • (topology) A collection of subsets ("basis elements") of a set, such that this collection covers the set, and for any two basis elements which both contain an element of the set, there is a third basis element contained in the intersection of the first two, which also contains that element.

    • Usage notes

    * The construction "on a daily/weekly/etc. basis" is usually an unnecessarily-wordy substitute for simply "daily/weekly/etc."

    Derived terms

    * basis point (4) * tax basis * fare basis * cost basis * basic

    Synonyms

    * (starting point for discussion) base

    References

    Anagrams

    * * English nouns with irregular plurals ----