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quintessential

ˌkwɪntɪˈsɛnʃəladjective

What does quintessential mean?

The most perfect example of a type.

Quintessential, six ways

PlainThe most perfect example of a type.
ADHDThe purest example. Textbook. Peak version.
Gen ZThe most X thing that has ever X-ed. The quintessential dad joke.
MetaphorThe one drop left when everything else has boiled away.
FormalRepresenting the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.
Like I’m 5The best example of a thing, the one everyone thinks of first. That’s quintessential.

How to pronounce quintessential

kwin-tuh-SEN-shul/ˌkwɪntɪˈsɛnʃəl/

Quintessential in a sentence

It was the quintessential summer afternoon.
A diner with a jukebox: quintessential Americana.
The quintessential English garden has roses and a bench.

Synonyms for quintessential

typicalPlainer, without the perfection.
classicA long-admired example.
archetypalThe original model.

Where quintessential comes from

Medieval Latin. Quinta essentia, the fifth essence: beyond earth, water, air and fire, the pure stuff the heavens were thought to be made of.

Good to know

From quintessence, the fifth element medieval thinkers believed made up the heavens. Now: the purest example.

Quintessential meaning, on a Gloss card: The most perfect example of a type.

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