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Showing results for essay. Search instead for preessay.
Synonyms

essay

American  
[es-ey, es-ey, e-sey, e-sey] / ˈɛs eɪ, ˈɛs eɪ, ɛˈseɪ, ɛˈseɪ /

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 British  

noun

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

  2. an attempt or endeavour; effort

  3. a test or trial

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to attempt or endeavour; try

  2. to test or try out

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
essay Cultural  

  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

Etymology

Origin of essay

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Or maybe not so incipiently, according to maritime analyst John Konrad, in his widely read essay partly titled, “What If the U.S. Navy isn’t in a Hurry to Reopen the Strait?”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Importantly, Beethoven’s symphonic essay on leadership and power was followed by the premiere of orchestrations by several composers of selected variations from Frederic Rzewski’s “The People United Will Never Be Defeated.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

Together, they create a documentary that looks like a moodboard colliding with a fashion archivist’s YouTube video essay.

From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026

The essay reads more like an idea of an essay, the skeleton of reflection with no meat.

From Slate • Mar. 20, 2026

“My mom asked your dad to look at an essay I wrote for a partial scholarship. For Purnell,” he says.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.