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Quintessence vs Nonpareil - What's the difference?

quintessence | nonpareil |

As nouns the difference between quintessence and nonpareil

is that quintessence is a thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something while nonpareil is a person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.

As a verb quintessence

is {{cx|transitive|lang=en}} To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

As an adjective nonpareil is

unequalled, unrivalled; unique.

quintessence

English

(wikipedia quintessence)

Noun

  • A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something.
  • A pure substance.
  • The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.
  • (alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water
  • (physics) A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * quintessential * quintessentially

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

    • References

    * * *

    nonpareil

    English

    (wikipedia nonpareil)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
  • * 1996 , (David Foster Wallace), Infinite Jest , Abacus 2013, p. 33:
    • A veritable artist, possessed of a deftness nonpareil with cotton swab and evacuation-hypo, the medical attaché is known among the shrinking upper classes of petro-Arab nations as the DeBakey of maxillofacial yeast […].

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
  • * c.1599-1601 , (William Shakespeare), Twelfth Night; or, What You Will ,
    • My lord and master loves you. O, such love / Could be but recompens'd though you were crown'd / The nonpareil of beauty!
  • * , III.2.2.ii:
    • King John of France, once prisoner in England, came […] to see the Countess of Salisbury, the nonpareil of those times, and his dear mistress.
  • A small pellet of colored sugar used as decoration on baked goods and candy.
  • A small, flat chocolate drop covered with white pellets of sugar, similar to a comfit.
  • (obsolete, printing) A type size between minion and agate or ruby (roughly 6pt); nonpareille.
  • * 1881 May 19, Hermann Cohn, ,
    • I believe that letters which are less than a millimetre and a half (1/17 inch) high, will finally prove injurious to the eye. How little attention has hitherto been paid to this important subject is exemplified in the fact that even oculistic journals and books frequently contain nonpareil , or letters only a millimetre (1/25 inch) high.

    See also

    * (Nonpareils) *

    Synonyms

    * (pellet of colored sugar) * hundreds and thousands ((UK), Australian'', ''plural only ) * sprinkles (probably US'', ''plural only )