quin·tes·sen·tial
ˌkwin-tə-ˈsen(t)-shəl
: perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing
Jerry's your quintessential streetwise New Yorker …—Kai Wright
This is the quintessential Los Angeles restaurant, casual but never frumpy, lively but not overheated …—Harvey Steiman
Marx was the quintessential intellectual, remarkably detached from the real world.—John Steele Gordon
: being a quintessence
His very faults were middling … It was not in his nature to be superlative in anything; unless, indeed, he was superlatively middling, the quintessential extract of mediocrity.—George Eliot
quintessentially
adverb
It is commonly accepted … that the rocking chair was an American invention, perhaps the most quintessentially American furniture form ever invented.
—Linda Rosenkrantz
There's no occupation more quintessentially macho than that of private detective.
—Cynthia Crossen
plural quintessentials
: a quintessential element : something that is a typical part or pure example
—usually plural
The quintessentials—ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard—that characterize classic American barbecue sauce can be found in this dish.—Betty Rosbottom
The quintessentials of a culture become all the more noticeable and absorbing if they are perceived as in danger of disappearing or as an obstacle to progress that must disappear.—Steve J. Stern
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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