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

Add a few drops of essential oil to wool dryer balls to infuse your laundry with fresh scents. —Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 12 Nov. 2025

However, consuming celery seed extract or celery essential oil is not recommended. —Michelle Pugle, Verywell Health, 10 Nov. 2025

The current owners, Julie and Greg Cook, co-founders of the essential oils company DoTerra, have now brought the property to market with Kerry Oman of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty at $43 million. —Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 6 Nov. 2025

Tea tree oil is a potent essential oil. —Heidi Cope, Health, 27 Oct. 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