essence

noun8

1. •
   the quality at the center of something, without which it would be a different thing

   • CHARITY is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands, says an old writer. Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue. — 1713
2. •
   The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
3. •
   The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through an extraction or distillation process.
4. •
   An extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter used for flavouring, or as a restorative.

   • She bathed the face of the sleeper with some essence, raised her in her arms, and called upon her name. — 1831
5. •
   A significant feature of something.
6. •
   Constituent substance.
7. •
   Fragrance, a perfume.

   • Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, / Not a less pleasing, tho’ less glorious care ; / To save the powder from too rude a gale, / Nor let th’ imprison’d essences exhale[…] — 1712
8. •
   A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.

   • He [Gottfried Wolfgang] had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until, like Swedenborg, he had an ideal world of his own around him. — 1824