quintessence

  1. Noun.  A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something.
  2. Noun.  A pure substance.
  3. Noun.  The essence in a thing that in its purest and most concentrated form.
  4. Noun.  (alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.