essential oil

noun

: any of a class of volatile oils that give plants their characteristic odors and are used especially in perfumes and flavorings, and for aromatherapy compare fixed oil

Examples of essential oil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The device can also double as an aromatherapy diffuser when paired with your choice of essential oil. —Maggie Horton, People.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Here, botanical algae and essential oils are whipped together into a luxe cream, designed to improve signs of skin aging with antioxidants. —Iman Balagam, Vogue, 3 Sep. 2025

Each bottle contains a different formula or essential oil that the family has used since the company’s inception. —Sarah Turner, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025

Add the essential oils of your choice and let the mixture cool. —Cody Godwin, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1674, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for essential oil

• aerofoil
• cinquefoil
• hydrofoil
• quatrefoil
• airfoil
• benzoyl
• despoil
• embroil
• etoile
• gargoyle
• recoil
• subsoil

Medical Definition

essential oil

noun

: any of a large class of volatile odoriferous oils of vegetable origin that give plants their characteristic odors and often other properties, that are obtained from various parts of the plants (as flowers, leaves, or bark) by steam distillation, expression, or extraction, that are usually mixtures of compounds (as aldehydes or esters), and that are used often in the form of essences in perfumes, flavorings, and pharmaceutical preparations

called also ethereal oil, volatile oil

compare fatty oil, fixed oil