quintessential

Etymology

PIE word *pénkʷe quintessence + -al

adj

1. Of the nature of a quintessence (in all senses); being or relating to the ultimate essence of something.
   The krogan evolved in a lethal ecology. Over millions of years, the grim struggle to survive larger predators, virulent disease, and resource scarcity on their homeworld, Tuchanka, turned the lizards into quintessential survivors. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan: Biology Codex entry
   Twin Tracks is the old-fashioned autobiography of a quintessential Englishman, evocative of an age when you took halibut oil for rickets and sportsmen were amateurs who trained in their lunch breaks. 6 May 2014, Nicholas Shakespeare, “Twin Tracks by Roger Bannister, review: Roger Bannister's memoir of a life in athletics recalls the moment 60 years ago when he broke the four-minute mile [print version: The quiet Englishman, 10 May 2014, p. R26]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)
   I live in a quintessential (Australian) building type myself - a high-set 'Queenslander' on Captain Cook's tropical Cape Tribulation coast - and some of the details I love most about it are its Deco influences - …. October 20 2021, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 56

noun

1. The fundamental essence of something.
   A final aspect of the focus argument concerns the potential for integration to highlight the quintessentials of each subject. 2013, Léonie J. Rennie, Grady Venville, John Wallace, Knowledge that Counts in a Global Community, page 64