Ten beds, and only one occupied, by a quintessence of dishevelled and freckled fragility in a blue shell. “Innocence is the epitome of the snapshot,” wrote Lisette Model. They are the curious quintessence of conservatism and will occupy young minds threatened by modernity. Only as a subscriber with a numbered set of a limited edition could one reach the quintessence of literature. In recent years, stoner has entered a category of which it has quickly become the quintessence. Quintessence (countable and uncountable, plural quintessences) The quintessence of something is its perfect, ideal example. Some people say that the epitome of American cuisine is burgers. Vegetarians can ask to be different. Yes, Holmes was the epitome of Victorian rationalism, “the most perfect and rational machine the world has ever seen.” Long ago, when people believed that the earth was composed of four elements – earth, fire and water – they thought that stars and planets were made up of another element. In the Middle Ages, people called this element by its medieval Latin name, quinta essentia, literally “fifth essence”. Our ancestors believed that quinta essentia was essential for all kinds of materials, and if they could isolate it in some way, it would cure all diseases. We have since abandoned this idea, but we have kept quintessence, the descendants of the quinta essentia, as a word for the purest essence of a thing.
Some modern physicists have given the quintessence a new twist – they use it to designate a form of dark energy that is supposed to account for nearly 70% of the energy in the observable universe. The actor is the epitome of smoothness, first as Remington Steele, then as James Bond. Store this precious quintessence of mercury, which is extremely volatile, in a tightly closed container for later use. Ancient Greek philosophers claimed that there were five elements: earth, water, air, fire, and a fifth substance that formed objects in the sky. This idea has been passed down over the centuries to Latin-speaking scholars, who have called the fifth element quintessenz – Latin words quintus, meaning “fifth” and essentia, meaning “to be”. Eventually, the meaning of the word evolved into our modern definition of an ideal, a potentially heavenly example of something – you know, like a hamburger. Nglish: Translation of the quintessence for Spanish speakers This drama is the epitome of everything Gorky has written so far about the “ex-husband”, which he has “explored” thoroughly. That, America, is the epitome of natural British cutie. Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press! From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French, from medieval Latin quinta essentia (“fifth essence, ether”).
In this context, “Essence” is synonymous with “element”. In pre-atomic/Aristotelian theory, there are four known elements, or essences—earth, air, fire, and water—and a fifth supposed element (ether), which is considered to be of exceptionally higher quality than the other four basic elements. Pinsky, Rankine, Harjo and others discuss the words they love Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Music theme by Joshua Stamper 2006©New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP Middle English, from Middle Français Quinte essence, from Middle Latin quinta essentia, literally, fifth essence Find the answers with Practical English Usage online, your essential guide to problems in English.