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单词 essay
释义

Definition of essay in English:

essay

noun ˈɛseɪˈɛseɪ
  • 1A short piece of writing on a particular subject.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • This juxtaposition is a characteristic feature of George Eliot's essays and reviews.
    • In writing essays, I only follow one rule, which is that all the information is independently verifiable.
    • Each section centers around a theme and is introduced with a short essay by one of the editors.
    • That might be the inevitable price of writing short essays.
    • Although he lacked a good radio voice, he excelled at writing short but incisive essays that captured a radio audience unused to such quality in a news broadcast.
    • I won an award for a poem, and consistently scored really well for essays, short stories and other English stuff in high school.
    • The editors encouraged all forms of literary submissions from poetry and essays to short stories and serialized novels.
    • For example, my first published piece was a nonfiction essay in MidAmerican Review.
    • I think I did a reasonable science essay on house design.
    • Apart from the novels, Sundara Ramaswamy has written several short stories and essays on literary criticism.
    • However, he continued to write poems, short stories, essays, and novels when he found time.
    • During the years that followed, Hurston wrote novels, essays, articles, and plays.
    • He began writing plays, essays, short stories and then film scripts declaring that he planned to devote his life to art as a force for social change.
    • He's since written many novels, and essays, and short stories.
    • Both his poetry from 1926 on and his essays in literary criticism attest to his spiritual independence.
    • In addition, he has published several books of essays, poems and photographs.
    • Previously, he had published travel essays and short stories, but he turned to writing novels.
    • Many of the essays are just too short to really get into the subject.
    • I went on to publish essays, short stories, poetry, and political commentaries.
    • He has published essays, reviews and short stories in a number of journals and anthologies and is currently at work on a novel.
    • Quentin Williams makes this point in a perceptive essay on painting and photography.
    Synonyms
    article, piece of writing, composition, study, paper, dissertation, assignment, thesis, discourse, treatise, text, tract, disquisition, monograph
    leader, commentary, critique, criticism, exposition, appraisal, assessment, discussion
    North American theme
    informal piece
  • 2formal An attempt or effort.

    a misjudged essay in job preservation
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Tourism at its best is an attempt, an essay, and not all essays are trivial.
    Synonyms
    attempt, effort, endeavour, try, venture, trial, experiment, undertaking
    informal crack, go, shot, stab, bash, whack
    1. 2.1 A trial design of a postage stamp yet to be accepted.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • He had a beautiful collection of essays and proofs, obtained largely from the designers and engravers with whom he was intimately acquainted.
      • The Prince Consort essay shown here can be regarded as the forerunner of later Victorian stamps.
verb ɛˈseɪɛˈseɪ
[with object]formal
  • Attempt or try.

    Donald essayed a smile
    Example sentencesExamples
    • The Socialist Party alone seems to be essaying a relatively sophisticated campaign, and taking the trouble to tell voters who its candidates are.
    • For any sportsperson, the point of contact in essaying a stroke is the moment of joy.
    • George Reid, the Presiding Officer, essayed a bit of Gaelic, then introduced the Lewis psalm-singers.
    • Nevin scampered for space and from 30 metres essayed a left-footed shot over the bar.
    • The newsreader forced a glassy smile and essayed a limp defence.
    • The protagonist in ‘The Shield’ is Vic Mackey, who is a hard-bitten, tough street cop brilliant essayed by Michael Chiklis.
    • I have never before essayed a non-fictional character.
    • Shortly thereafter, he essayed a hair transplant, which he covered with a bandanna to make sure it was noted.
    • After a clutch of films in which he has essayed powerful characters with a negative side, Irfan was pleasantly surprised some time last year when a London-based producer approached him with the offer of a lead role in a film.
    • The chief minister's younger son, Karan Pratap Singh, deftly essayed by Rohit Roy, is both feared and adored by his mother who sees him as both a liability and as her political heir.
    • Subsequently, Beckham essayed a long, high shot but this one, in contrast to the one that made it into the net, was comfortably caught by Jones.
    • Born in December 1924, Ezekiel essayed many roles with energy and grace: poet, editor, art critic, playwright, teacher, and literary organiser.
    • And, the first role that he played was that of a 74-year-old, the oldest character he's ever essayed in his career.
    • Rajkumar essayed the role of many a mythological character as well as historical figures.
    • Some months ago, the Government essayed a crackdown on youths staying late at internet cafes.
    Synonyms
    attempt, make an attempt at, try, strive, aim, venture, endeavour, seek, set out, do one's best, do all one can, do one's utmost, make an effort, make every effort, spare no effort, give one's all, take it on oneself
    have a go at, undertake, embark on, try one's hand at, try out, take on
    informal give it a whirl, give it one's best shot, go all out, pull out all the stops, bend over backwards, knock oneself out, bust a gut, break one's neck, move heaven and earth, have a crack at, have a shot at, have a stab at

Origin

Late 15th century (as a verb in the sense 'test the quality of'): alteration of assay, by association with Old French essayer, based on late Latin exagium 'weighing', from the base of exigere 'ascertain, weigh'; the noun (late 16th century) is from Old French essai 'trial'.

  • Essay is a variant of assay (Middle English) ‘try, test’, going back to Latin exigere ‘ascertain, weigh’. In writing contexts, it referred initially to ‘a first draft’ but came to mean ‘a composition’. This use seems to have been taken from the French philosopher and essayist Montaigne (1533–92) whose Essais were first published in 1580.

Rhymes

affray, agley, aka, allay, Angers, A-OK, appellation contrôlée, array, assay, astray, au fait, auto-da-fé, away, aweigh, aye, bay, belay, betray, bey, Bombay, Bordet, boulevardier, bouquet, brae, bray, café au lait, Carné, cassoulet, Cathay, chassé, chevet, chez, chiné, clay, convey, Cray, crème brûlée, crudités, cuvée, cy-pres, day, decay, deejay, dégagé, distinguée, downplay, dray, Dufay, Dushanbe, eh, embay, engagé, everyday, faraway, fay, fey, flay, fray, Frey, fromage frais, gainsay, Gaye, Genet, giclee, gilet, glissé, gray, grey, halfway, hay, heigh, hey, hooray, Hubei, Hué, hurray, inveigh, jay, jeunesse dorée, José, Kay, Kaye, Klee, Kray, Lae, lay, lei, Littré, Lough Neagh, lwei, Mae, maguey, Malay, Mallarmé, Mandalay, Marseilles, may, midday, midway, mislay, misplay, Monterrey, Na-Dene, nay, né, née, neigh, Ney, noway, obey, O'Dea, okay, olé, outlay, outplay, outstay, outweigh, oyez, part-way, pay, Pei, per se, pince-nez, play, portray, pray, prey, purvey, qua, Quai d'Orsay, Rae, rangé, ray, re, reflet, relevé, roman-à-clef, Santa Fé, say, sei, Shar Pei, shay, slay, sleigh, sley, spae, spay, Spey, splay, spray, stay, straightaway, straightway, strathspey, stray, Sui, survey, sway, Taipei, Tay, they, today, tokay, Torbay, Tournai, trait, tray, trey, two-way, ukiyo-e, underlay, way, waylay, Wei, weigh, wey, Whangarei, whey, yea
 
 

Definition of essay in US English:

essay

nounˈesāˈɛseɪ
  • 1A short piece of writing on a particular subject.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • He has published essays, reviews and short stories in a number of journals and anthologies and is currently at work on a novel.
    • Both his poetry from 1926 on and his essays in literary criticism attest to his spiritual independence.
    • Previously, he had published travel essays and short stories, but he turned to writing novels.
    • In writing essays, I only follow one rule, which is that all the information is independently verifiable.
    • That might be the inevitable price of writing short essays.
    • Although he lacked a good radio voice, he excelled at writing short but incisive essays that captured a radio audience unused to such quality in a news broadcast.
    • He's since written many novels, and essays, and short stories.
    • Apart from the novels, Sundara Ramaswamy has written several short stories and essays on literary criticism.
    • I went on to publish essays, short stories, poetry, and political commentaries.
    • Each section centers around a theme and is introduced with a short essay by one of the editors.
    • However, he continued to write poems, short stories, essays, and novels when he found time.
    • He began writing plays, essays, short stories and then film scripts declaring that he planned to devote his life to art as a force for social change.
    • During the years that followed, Hurston wrote novels, essays, articles, and plays.
    • Quentin Williams makes this point in a perceptive essay on painting and photography.
    • I won an award for a poem, and consistently scored really well for essays, short stories and other English stuff in high school.
    • The editors encouraged all forms of literary submissions from poetry and essays to short stories and serialized novels.
    • For example, my first published piece was a nonfiction essay in MidAmerican Review.
    • I think I did a reasonable science essay on house design.
    • Many of the essays are just too short to really get into the subject.
    • This juxtaposition is a characteristic feature of George Eliot's essays and reviews.
    • In addition, he has published several books of essays, poems and photographs.
    Synonyms
    article, piece of writing, composition, study, paper, dissertation, assignment, thesis, discourse, treatise, text, tract, disquisition, monograph
  • 2formal An attempt or effort.

    a misjudged essay
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Tourism at its best is an attempt, an essay, and not all essays are trivial.
    Synonyms
    attempt, effort, endeavour, try, venture, trial, experiment, undertaking
    1. 2.1 A trial design of a postage stamp yet to be accepted.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • The Prince Consort essay shown here can be regarded as the forerunner of later Victorian stamps.
      • He had a beautiful collection of essays and proofs, obtained largely from the designers and engravers with whom he was intimately acquainted.
verbeˈsāɛˈseɪ
[with object]formal
  • Attempt or try.

    essay a smile
    Example sentencesExamples
    • I have never before essayed a non-fictional character.
    • The chief minister's younger son, Karan Pratap Singh, deftly essayed by Rohit Roy, is both feared and adored by his mother who sees him as both a liability and as her political heir.
    • Nevin scampered for space and from 30 metres essayed a left-footed shot over the bar.
    • For any sportsperson, the point of contact in essaying a stroke is the moment of joy.
    • The protagonist in ‘The Shield’ is Vic Mackey, who is a hard-bitten, tough street cop brilliant essayed by Michael Chiklis.
    • Rajkumar essayed the role of many a mythological character as well as historical figures.
    • And, the first role that he played was that of a 74-year-old, the oldest character he's ever essayed in his career.
    • After a clutch of films in which he has essayed powerful characters with a negative side, Irfan was pleasantly surprised some time last year when a London-based producer approached him with the offer of a lead role in a film.
    • Subsequently, Beckham essayed a long, high shot but this one, in contrast to the one that made it into the net, was comfortably caught by Jones.
    • The newsreader forced a glassy smile and essayed a limp defence.
    • Born in December 1924, Ezekiel essayed many roles with energy and grace: poet, editor, art critic, playwright, teacher, and literary organiser.
    • George Reid, the Presiding Officer, essayed a bit of Gaelic, then introduced the Lewis psalm-singers.
    • Some months ago, the Government essayed a crackdown on youths staying late at internet cafes.
    • The Socialist Party alone seems to be essaying a relatively sophisticated campaign, and taking the trouble to tell voters who its candidates are.
    • Shortly thereafter, he essayed a hair transplant, which he covered with a bandanna to make sure it was noted.
    Synonyms
    attempt, make an attempt at, try, strive, aim, venture, endeavour, seek, set out, do one's best, do all one can, do one's utmost, make an effort, make every effort, spare no effort, give one's all, take it on oneself

Origin

Late 15th century (as a verb in the sense ‘test the quality of’): alteration of assay, by association with Old French essayer, based on late Latin exagium ‘weighing’, from the base of exigere ‘ascertain, weigh’; the noun (late 16th century) is from Old French essai ‘trial’.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/11/10 11:54:48