Noun

The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.

*

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* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jeremy Bernstein)

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Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)

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.