es‧say 1 S3 / eseɪ / 名词 [可数名词]
1 a short piece of writing about a particular subject by a student as part of a course of study
essay on/about
an essay on Bernard Shaw
2 a short piece of writing giving someone’s ideas about politics, society etc
essay on
Rousseau’s ‘Essay on the Origin of Languages’
3 formal an attempt to do something
COLLOCATIONS
动词
write/do an essay I’ve got a 3,000 word essay to write before Friday.
give in/hand in an essay Half the class failed to hand in their essay on time.
mark an essay British English , grade an essay AmE: I went home knowing that I still had a pile of essays to mark.
read an essay Did you read her essay on ‘The Waste Land’?
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + essay
an English/history/politics etc essay He got a good grade for his English essay.
a critical essay (= one that judges how good a book, writer etc is ) The anthology contains critical essays by Kael, Graham Greene and others.
an academic essay Mature students often need practice writing academic essays.
a literary essay In a literary essay, you should explore the meaning and construction of the text.
essay + NOUN
an essay question We practised essay questions from previous exam papers.
an essay title You will find a list of essay titles on the notice board.
an essay topic Students will be given six essay topics, from which they must choose two.
短语
a collection of essays She published a collection of essays on philosophy.
THESAURUS
essay a piece of writing written by a student as part of a course of study : We had to write an essay about the environment. | Have you handed in your essay yet?
paper an essay written by a someone who has studied a subject as part of their research. Paper is also used about an essay that you have to write for a class at school, especially in American English : The professor has published over forty scientific papers on diseases of tropical crops | At the beginning of the school year we had to write a paper about our interests.
dissertation a long essay written as part of a university degree : In the third year of their course, students have to write a 10,000 word dissertation on a topic that has been approved by their tutor.
thesis a very long essay that is part of an advanced university degree such as a master’s degree or a doctorate : He wrote his doctoral thesis on the literature of the English romantic movement.