Anything that's true in essence is basically or fundamentally accurate. You are in essence a tidy person, even though you forgot to take out the trash last night.
Use this adverbial phrase to describe things that are essentially so, even if the details are a little more complicated. In essence, you and your sister get along, although a visitor to your home might not believe it after witnessing one of your rare fights. But people who know you well would agree that, in essence, the two of you are actually pretty close! Essence has a Latin root, essentia, that means "being or essence."