- 1[uncountable] essence (of something) the most important quality or feature of something, that makes it what it is His paintings capture the essence of France. In essence (= when you consider the most important points), your situation isn't so different from mine.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2[uncountable, countable] a liquid taken from a plant, etc. that contains its smell and taste in a very strong form essence of rosewood see extract Idioms
necessary and very important In this situation time is of the essence (= we must do things as quickly as possible).
Check pronunciation: essence