quintessential

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adjective

quin·​tes·​sen·​tial ˌkwin-tə-ˈsen(t)-shəl 

: perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing

Jerry's your quintessential streetwise New Yorker …

—Kai Wright

This is the quintessential Los Angeles restaurant, casual but never frumpy, lively but not overheated …

—Harvey Steiman

Marx was the quintessential intellectual, remarkably detached from the real world.

—John Steele Gordon

: being a quintessence

His very faults were middling … It was not in his nature to be superlative in anything; unless, indeed, he was superlatively middling, the quintessential extract of mediocrity.

—George Eliot

quintessentially adverb

It is commonly accepted … that the rocking chair was an American invention, perhaps the most quintessentially American furniture form ever invented.

—Linda Rosenkrantz

There's no occupation more quintessentially macho than that of private detective.

—Cynthia Crossen

quintessential

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noun

plural quintessentials

: a quintessential element : something that is a typical part or pure example

—usually plural

The quintessentials—ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard—that characterize classic American barbecue sauce can be found in this dish.

—Betty Rosbottom

The quintessentials of a culture become all the more noticeable and absorbing if they are perceived as in danger of disappearing or as an obstacle to progress that must disappear.

—Steve J. Stern

Did you know?

Quintessential and the Elements

The philosophers and scientists of the ancient world and the Middle Ages believed that the world we inhabit was entirely made up of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Aristotle added a fifth element, the aether or ether, by which he meant the material that fills the rest of space, mostly invisibly but sometimes taking the form of stars and planets. Many writers described the element as a kind of invisible light or fire. In the Middle Ages, it was referred to as the quinta essentia ("fifth element"). It isn't surprising that the quinta essentia came to stand for anything so perfect that it seemed to surpass the limitations of earth. Today we generally use quintessential rather freely to describe just about anything that represents the best of its kind.

Synonyms

Adjective

• archetypal
• archetypical
• classic
• definitive
• exemplary
• imitable
• model
• paradigmatic
• textbook

Examples of quintessential in a Sentence

Adjective

Helen of Troy was supposedly the quintessential beauty of the ancient world

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Then there are also so many quintessential pop hits and Top 40 songs that blow it through the roof. —Liza Lentini, SPIN, 27 Dec. 2024

While pho and banh mi are easily identifiable as Vietnamese, there’s so much more to the fare than these two quintessential items. —Christina Liao, Vogue, 27 Dec. 2024

Noun

Strong, stout and substantial in size, the fossil species featured the same powerful legs, long feet and lengthy tail quintessential of kangaroos today. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2022

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1551, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1853, in the meaning defined above