in essence

Idioms  

1. Basically, by nature, as in He is in essence a very private person or In essence, they were asking the wrong question. This term employs essence in the sense of “intrinsic nature,” a usage dating from the mid-1600s.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

in essence

“I’ve always associated horror with summertime, actually. Like ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘Sleepaway Camp’” — in essence, the freedom of summer invaded by fear and death.

From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026

Computer learning will, in essence, turn somewhat retro with classes using alternative options such as laptop carts or computer lab models.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

“For me, human rights in essence is about human agency,” Roth said in an interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

Instead, they wrote what was in essence a series of dueling law-review articles on the major-questions doctrine.

From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2026

The crime of which the accused have been convicted, that is the main crime, the crime of conspiracy, is in essence one of high treason.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Related Words

• actually
• approximately
• necessarily
• originally
• permanently
• quite
• really
• substantially
• truly
• typically
• virtually