to capture the essence
9
5.1
- idiom
:
captar la esencia
- Her opening chapter, "The Mexican Messiah," captures the essence of Mexico and is her best.
- one that captures the essence
I really like simple models which capture the essence of what you want to discuss.
- I really like simple models which capture the essence of what you want to discuss.
- Now I'm not so arrogant and full of myself to think that I capture the essence of of what I'm trying to say.
- And I think he's including something that captures the essence of a former body of work, maybe subconsciously.
- It's a it's a strange name, but I thought it captured the essence of what control was good at doing and what control was bad at doing.
Examples
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And Hannah said, "That painting captured the essence of that woman better than any photograph."
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I feel like it really captures the essence of what I love to do.
Blog text (30) -
I really like simple models which capture the essence of what you want to discuss.
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The opportunities are many: the challenge is to capture the essence of cultural pride and tradition.
Academic text (2006) -
You have a great eye and capture the essence and beauty of each place you photograph.
Blog text (22) -
They're all great names that capture the essence of the channel.
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Make sure that the principal captures the essence of what you think is most important.
Academic text (2005) -
This one I think captures the essence of what the poll told us.
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The exchange between Pierre-Simon Laplace and Napoleon, though apocryphal, captures the essence of this belief.
Academic text (2016) -
When made from scratch with the season's sweetest ingredients, ice cream captures the essence of summer.
Synonyms
255
3.4
To show an idea, feeling, or quality clearly
104
5.1
Show an idea, quality or feeling in a clear visible way
22
7.3
A perfect example that shows the main qualities of something
Antonyms
How Accurate
18
6.1
104
5.1
9
5.1
595
3.5
∞
2.1
229
1.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'capture' (to depict or express) combined with 'essence' (the central or defining quality), so the phrase literally means to express the core qualities of something. This is a standard, compositional pattern with close parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.
Etymology
The phrase capture the essence uses the literal ideas capture, meaning to catch, and essence, meaning the basic smell or heart of something. Imagine catching a flower's scent and putting it in a bottle to keep its true smell. That's why capture the essence means 'to show the most important qualities' of something.