essay

[es-ey, es-ey, e-sey, e-sey]

noun

1. a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

2. anything resembling such a composition.

   a picture essay.

3. an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.

4. Philately.,  a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.

5. Obsolete.,  a tentative effort; trial; assay.

verb (used with object)

1. to try; attempt.

2. to put to the test; make trial of.

essay

noun

1. a short literary composition dealing with a subject analytically or speculatively

2. an attempt or endeavour; effort

3. a test or trial

verb

1. to attempt or endeavour; try

2. to test or try out

essay

1. A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author's own views. Michel de Montaigne, Francis Bacon (see also Bacon), and Ralph Waldo Emerson are celebrated for their essays.

Other Word Forms

• essayer noun
• preessay verb (used without object)
• unessayed adjective
• well-essayed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of essay¹

First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French essayer, from Late Latin exagium “a weighing,” from exag(ere) (unrecorded) “to examine, test,” literally, “to drive out, thrust out” (from Latin exigere; exact ) + -ium -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of essay¹

C15: from Old French essaier to attempt, from essai an attempt, from Late Latin exagium a weighing, from Latin agere to do, compel, influenced by exigere to investigate

Example Sentences

It's a series of newly discovered short stories Lee wrote in the years before Mockingbird, as well as previously published essays and magazine pieces.

Read more on BBC

One of its co-founders drew a string of unusual rebukes from the White House this past week after penning a rather personal essay about his own uneasiness around the work his industry is doing.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

On Friday, entrepreneur and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs published an essay in the Wall Street Journal citing some of Benioff’s earlier remarks and claims that no one has given more to San Francisco.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In a Wall Street Journal essay, investor and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs criticized Benioff for citing his financial and charitable expenditures in San Francisco in justifying his call for the National Guard.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I can explain their Marxist essay in a way that I feel ...

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• article 
• discussion 
• dissertation 
• manuscript 
• paper 
• piece 
• study 
• thesis 
• treatise