Quintessence vs. Quintessential — What's the Difference?

The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.

Of, relating to, or having the nature of a quintessence; being the most typical

The purest or most typical instance

Of the nature of a quintessence (in all senses); being or relating to the ultimate essence of something.

In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, thought to be the substance of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things.

The fundamental essence of something.

A form of dark energy due to a hypothetical scalar field that permeates all space, the energy density of which varies across space and time, in contrast to the cosmological constant.

Of the nature of a quintessence; purest; most characteristic.

A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.

Representing the perfect example of a class or quality

A pure substance.

The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.

(alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.

(physics) A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.

(transitive) To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under Ferment.

Hence: An extract from anything, containing its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small quantity; pure or concentrated essence.

The most characteristic form or most perfect example of some type of object.

To distil or extract as a quintessence; to reduce to a quintessence.

The fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies

The purest and most concentrated essence of something

The most typical example or representative of a type