1
as in articles
a short piece of writing typically expressing a point of view
school essays on what it means to be a patriot
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2
3
as in tests
a procedure or operation carried out to resolve an uncertainty
a little homemade essay to determine the easiest way to strip the paint from the bookcase
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in tries
to make an effort to do
he had been in gymnastics for some time before he even considered essaying that move
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of essays
Quanta Magazine, 8 May 2026
Students who rely on AI to write essays and solve problems are not learning to think, and that is a long-term risk to California’s workforce and civic life.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
Her short fiction and lyric essays have appeared in Literary Imagination, The American Scholar, The Yale Review, The Big Other, and elsewhere.
—Literary Hub, 6 May 2026
In these quietly stunning essays, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, the daughter of an Army veteran and a schoolteacher, looks back on her upbringing in Buckhannon, West Virginia.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Across its 140-plus pages, the book traces a postwar landscape of Chicano youth culture through personal essays, interview testimonials, and over a hundred vintage photos, party ads, and scans of record labels and album covers, many with those tags.
—Oliver Wang, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2026
Yet while plenty of people bemoan the death of the big-screen romantic comedy—essays about this very problem arrive on schedule every few years or so, like impatient cicadas—nobody seems all that sad about the demise of chick lit.
—Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 4 May 2026
Both have written First Opinion essays on Kennedy’s claims.
—Torie Bosch, STAT, 29 Apr. 2026
The essays covered topics including whether schools should require community service and whether aliens built a hill on Mars.
—Rachel Del Guidice, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Sweta Kaushal, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Noun
In these essays, our columnists follow their curiosity, and explore important but not necessarily answerable scientific questions.
—Quanta Magazine, 8 May 2026
Students who rely on AI to write essays and solve problems are not learning to think, and that is a long-term risk to California’s workforce and civic life.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
Her short fiction and lyric essays have appeared in Literary Imagination, The American Scholar, The Yale Review, The Big Other, and elsewhere.
—Literary Hub, 6 May 2026
In these quietly stunning essays, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, the daughter of an Army veteran and a schoolteacher, looks back on her upbringing in Buckhannon, West Virginia.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Across its 140-plus pages, the book traces a postwar landscape of Chicano youth culture through personal essays, interview testimonials, and over a hundred vintage photos, party ads, and scans of record labels and album covers, many with those tags.
—Oliver Wang, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2026
Yet while plenty of people bemoan the death of the big-screen romantic comedy—essays about this very problem arrive on schedule every few years or so, like impatient cicadas—nobody seems all that sad about the demise of chick lit.
—Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 4 May 2026
Both have written First Opinion essays on Kennedy’s claims.
—Torie Bosch, STAT, 29 Apr. 2026
The essays covered topics including whether schools should require community service and whether aliens built a hill on Mars.
—Rachel Del Guidice, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Verb
In the film, Bajpayee plays the police officer while Jim Sarbh essays the role of the killer who goes by the fictional name Carl Bhojraj.
—Sweta Kaushal, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for essays
Noun
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Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
28 Apr. 2026
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News articles and photos of the casual picnic enamored Americans, transforming their view of the royals as rigid and aristocratic to more down-to-earth.—
Karissa Waddick,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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And of course Mike Brown pulled Mitchell Robinson, who missed four straight free throws when the 76ers began intentionally fouling him in the first quarter, only to continue extending the lead despite the Sixers’ attempts at stifling his rotation.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
5 May 2026
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The Magic scored only 19 second-half points, the fewest for any half in playoff history, and made only one of their 20 fourth-quarter shot attempts.—
Josh Robbins,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
Noun
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But the summary lacks any kind of detailed explanation of which tests were run and under what conditions.—
Cyrus Farivar,
ArsTechnica,
2 May 2026
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In my tests, SynthID was quite effective at identifying images generated with Google’s models.—
Lila Shroff,
The Atlantic,
2 May 2026
Verb
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Justice Kagan has sometimes been viewed as a strategist rather than a polemicist, who tries to forge agreements with the Court’s more moderate conservative members.—
Jeannie Suk Gersen,
New Yorker,
2 May 2026
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Police say Suleiman was referred in 2020 to the government’s Prevent program, which tries to steer individuals away from extremism.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 May 2026
Noun
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Does this mean those pop-goes-punk comp albums are coming back?—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
13 Apr. 2026
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Except then there’s the chance of being FUNNELED, placed on the rails and headed for a very specific destination, instead of the OPEN-WORLD anything-goes of traditional D&D.—
Christopher Borrelli,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In 2023, using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, Schramma and Jalaal reported that Elodea cells occupy a critical point at such a transition.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
4 May 2026
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By targeting a gene central to the molecular dysfunction and creating a novel system to deliver functional genetic instructions, High, Bennett and Maguire were able to move their therapy from the lab to experiments in dogs and finally to clinical trials in humans.—
Lauren J. Young,
Scientific American,
4 May 2026
Verb
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As Miranda faces public outcry and the pressures of a downturning publishing industry, Andy once again strives for her approval amid her steadfast pursuit of rigorous journalism.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
2 May 2026
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Dan Drazen, Trinity’s vice president of development, said the overarching redevelopment design strives to make Mary Shepard Place more resemble what the neighborhood looked like prior to the construction of Bellevue Square in 1942 and what still exists today in the surrounding area.—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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His endeavors have included meme-wear, eyelashes for Asian Americans and his latest venture - the packaging company Paking Duck.—
Medora Lee,
USA Today,
3 May 2026
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As the nation restructures its economy away from fossil fuels, there are those who believe that valuable lessons can be learned from Desert Warrior to support filmmaking endeavors in the future.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Essays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/essays. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
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