Quintessence
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The word quintessence is used in different fields:
- In physics, quintessence is a hypothetical form of energy postulated to exist as a possible explanation of observations of an accelerating universe.
- In alchemy, quintessence, meaning "fifth element", was another term for ether; it is the substance of which the heavenly bodies were supposed to be composed.
- Quintessenz (German for "quintessennce") is an Austrian on-line civil liberties advocacy organization.
Quintessence and the corresponding adjective quintessential are also used in the figurative sense of "(a thing) that is the perfect example of its kind".
