hypostasis

[ hahy-pos-tuh-sis, hi- ]

noun,plural hy·pos·ta·ses

[hahy-pos-tuh-seez, hi-]. /haɪˈpɒs təˌsiz, hɪ-/.

Metaphysics.
- something that stands under and supports; foundation.
- the underlying or essential part of anything as distinguished from attributes; substance, essence, or essential principle.
Theology.
- one of the three real and distinct substances in the one undivided substance or essence of God.
- a person of the Trinity.
- the one personality of Christ in which His two natures, human and divine, are united.

Medicine/Medical.
- the accumulation of blood or its solid components in parts of an organ or body due to poor circulation.
- such sedimentation, as in a test tube.

Origin of hypostasis

1580–90; <Late Latin <Greek hypóstasis that which settles at the bottom; substance, nature, essence, equivalent to hypo-hypo- + stásis standing, stasis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hypostasis in a sentence

Among the hidden and1302 intelligible gods are three hypostases.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4 | Plotinos (Plotinus)
The Christian has but one God, existing in three hypostases.
The Indian in his Wigwam | Henry R. Schoolcraft
(The two hypostases of the supreme spirit—the unknowable and the Manifest, the aprakstm and the saprakstm).
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2) | Valmiki
But as to the nature and order of these hypostases, the Alexandrians are no longer at one with the school of Athens.
The City of God, Volume I | Aurelius Augustine
You did not come here; I suppose, to argue about the three hypostases.
Thais | Anatole France

British Dictionary definitions for hypostasis

hypostasis

/ (haɪˈpɒstəsɪs) /

nounplural -ses (-ˌsiːz)

metaphysics the essential nature of a substance as opposed to its attributes
Christianity
- any of the three persons of the Godhead, together constituting the Trinity
- the one person of Christ in which the divine and human natures are united

the accumulation of blood in an organ or part, under the influence of gravity as the result of poor circulation
another name for epistasis (def. 3)

Origin of hypostasis

C16: from Late Latin: substance, from Greek hupostasis foundation, from huphistasthai to stand under, from hypo- + histanai to cause to stand

Derived forms of hypostasis

hypostatic (ˌhaɪpəˈstætɪk) or hypostatical, adjective
hypostatically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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