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

Simple stress relievers like stress balls and essential oil diffusers will help dad alleviate some of the day’s stressors. —Bestreviews, Mercury News, 1 June 2026

Soak a few cotton balls in a scented essential oil and dropping them into your bathroom trash can or tucked into a small container on a shelf. —Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 31 May 2026

Forget about essential oils, sonic devices, or other home remedies. —Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 28 May 2026

Soursop is part of the Annonaceae (custard apple) family, which includes tropical plants like cherimoya, sugar apple, and ylang-ylang, a flower used to make essential oil. —Kirsten Nunez, Martha Stewart, 28 May 2026

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