Essay
['eseɪ] or ['ɛse]
Definition
(noun.) a tentative attempt.
(noun.) an analytic or interpretive literary composition.
Typed by Arthur--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) An effort made, or exertion of body or mind, for the performance of anything; a trial; attempt; as, to make an essay to benefit a friend.
(n.) A composition treating of any particular subject; -- usually shorter and less methodical than a formal, finished treatise; as, an essay on the life and writings of Homer; an essay on fossils, or on commerce.
(n.) An assay. See Assay, n.
(n.) To exert one's power or faculties upon; to make an effort to perform; to attempt; to endeavor; to make experiment or trial of; to try.
(n.) To test the value and purity of (metals); to assay. See Assay.
Checker: Maisie
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Attempt, try, endeavor.
n. [1]. Attempt, trial, endeavor, effort, struggle, aim.[2]. Tract, dissertation, treatise, disquisition, brief discourse.
Inputed by Angie
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See ASSAY]
[See ESSAY_and_DISQUISITION]
Editor: Vanessa
Definition
n. a trial: an experiment: a written composition less elaborate than a treatise.—v.t. Essay′ to try: to attempt: to make experiment of:—pr.p. essay′ing; pa.p. essayed′.—ns. Essay′er Es′sayist one who essays: a writer of essays; Essayette′ Es′saykin a little essay.—adjs. Es′sayish; Essayis′tic.
Checked by Barry
Examples
- He wrote an essay on his invention, and circulated it among his friends and teachers. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- It was neither tale nor poem, neither essay nor history; it neither sung, nor related, not discussed. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Wells' little essay: Skepticism of the Instrument. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- James made it articulate in his essay on The Moral Equivalent of War. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- That worthy lady being unable to obtain one, and being steadfastly denied admission, Mr Meagles besought Arthur to essay once more what he could do. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- But in 1695, the common price of silver bullion was six shillings and fivepence an ounce, {Lowndes's Essay on the Silver Coin, 68. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Did an elderly gentleman essay to stop the progress of the ball, it rolled between his legs or slipped between his fingers. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Readers of the Fabian Essays know Mr. Wallas and appreciate the work of his group. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But we may well consider these reconstructions as contributory essays and experiments in the general constructive effort. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These essays, then, are an attempt to sketch an attitude towards statecraft. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There, at least, no rich people are buying anything, and no military men are reading essays on the next war. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Baden Powell, in his Essays on the Unity of Worlds, 1855. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- I write essays; and, with deliberate forgerysign to them my pupils' names, and boast of them as their work. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Two or three essays read in this society were published. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Once more he essayed the effort, but a qualm of nausea overwhelmed him. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- It must be by your management then, gallant yeoman, said Ivanhoe; for each hint I have essayed to give him serves only to induce him to prolong it. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- But even in the midst of that paroxysm, he still essayed to repeat his favourite introduction of himself, 'Pa-ancks the gi-ipsy, fortune-telling. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Mrs. Corney twice essayed to speak: and twice failed. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one fraught with much danger, but there was no other way, and so I essayed the task. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- Which makes three,' observed Mr. Bumble, essaying a stroke of facetiousness. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
Editor: Will