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Identity vs Essence - What's the difference?

identity | essence |

As nouns the difference between identity and essence

is that identity is sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same while essence is (inherent nature)The inherent nature of a thing or idea.

identity

English

(wikipedia identity)

Noun

(identities)
  • Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
  • * 1997 , Hydrothermal Vent Fauna'', in ''Advances in Marine Biology: The Biogeography of the Oceans , page 111:
  • The difference or character that marks off an individual from the rest of the same kind, selfhood.
  • *
  • A name or persona—the mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.
    • This criminal has taken on several identities .
  • Sense of who one is.
    • I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity .
    This nation has a strong identity .
  • (algebra, computing) Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.
  • (algebra) An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this, second element.

    • Synonyms

    * selfhood * identity function

    Derived terms

    * additive identity * identity card * identity of indiscernibles * identity theft * law of identity * left identity * mistaken identity * multiplicative identity * personal identity * quasiidentity * right identity

    Related terms

    * identic * identical * identification * identify

    External links

    * *

    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

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