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.

Noun

Any great, strong, powerful emotion, especially romantic love or hate.

We share a passion for books.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=January 16 , author=Saj Chowdhury , title=Sunderland 1 - 1 Newcastle , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=That was partly because of a swirling wind that made precision passing difficult and also a derby atmosphere where the emphasis seemed to be on passion rather than football.}}

Fervor, determination.

An object of passionate or romantic love or strong romantic interest.

It started as a hobby, but now my motorbike collection has become my passion .

sexual intercourse, especially when very emotional

We shared a night of passion .

The suffering of Jesus leading up to and during his crucifixion.

A play, musical composition or display meant to commemorate the suffering of Jesus.

(obsolete) Suffering or enduring of imposed or inflicted pain; any suffering or distress.

a cardiac passion

* Wyclif Bible (Rom. viii. 18)

the passions of this time

(obsolete) The state of being acted upon; subjection to an external agent or influence; a passive condition; opposed to action .

* John Locke

A body at rest affords us no idea of any active power to move, and, when set is motion, it is rather a passion than an action in it.

(obsolete) Capacity of being affected by external agents; susceptibility of impressions from external agents.

* Francis Bacon

mouldable and not mouldable, scissible and not scissible, and many other passions of matter

(obsolete) An innate quality, property, or attribute of a thing.

to obtain the knowledge of some passion of the circle. (rfex)

(obsolete) Disorder of the mind; madness.

(Shakespeare)