<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>
<!-- Generated by CompSci Transform (tm) - http://www.compsciresources.com -->
<!-- Created: Tue Mar 24 22:42:02 UTC 2026 -->
<linkbase xmlns="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase http://www.xbrl.org/2003/xbrl-linkbase-2003-12-31.xsd" xmlns:xbrldt="http://xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt">
  <roleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="esnt-20251231.xsd#esnt_r_AdditionalDimensions" roleURI="http://ir.essentgroup.com/role/AdditionalDimensions"/>
  <arcroleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#dimension-default" arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/dimension-default"/>
  <arcroleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#dimension-domain" arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/dimension-domain"/>
  <arcroleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#hypercube-dimension" arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/hypercube-dimension"/>
  <arcroleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#domain-member" arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/domain-member"/>
  <arcroleRef xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.xbrl.org/2005/xbrldt-2005.xsd#all" arcroleURI="http://xbrl.org/int/dim/arcrole/all"/>
<!-- [WMV6][mZqoMJfxpWMDNR5HnqOwFVJtqIARIJoRbLY4ADZCGKnsDsPgqF7E6o0821Kxy7znTmNaEPFrPDf1ucPSCDUTeNtxgG5aCsL44t7xK56DzKfMBi27TGi6XuB+QFwwD3uWfb9uwBYlnsAoif4Mx/D2y0XqDuupWHnuKs3Fc3XqE5fLC55B7Ti4lG6DS2RBdCDLjQhStenDC//N0fJJ+n2K+xAVgw+pvWcL3VVPS/YSYRv4wBHwqeY27cGcy/6qRdsipsS6YkMLYYpF3nJN47A+Y6nA8c6FB1KNv3C7OqOK7WlHSZZ7VjiF3L54NYuxjH8=] CSR-->
  <definitionLink xlink:role="http://ir.essentgroup.com/role/AdditionalDimensions" xlink:type="extended"/>
</linkbase>
