hypostasis

American  

[hahy-pos-tuh-sis, hi-] / haɪˈpɒs tə sɪs, hɪ- /

noun

hypostases plural

1. Metaphysics.

   1. something that stands under and supports; foundation.

   2. the underlying or essential part of anything as distinguished from attributes; substance, essence, or essential principle.

2. Theology.

   1. one of the three real and distinct substances in the one undivided substance or essence of God.

   2. a person of the Trinity.

   3. the one personality of Christ in which His two natures, human and divine, are united.

3. Medicine/Medical.

   1. the accumulation of blood or its solid components in parts of an organ or body due to poor circulation.

   2. such sedimentation, as in a test tube.

---

hypostasis British  

/ haɪˈpɒstəsɪs, ˌhaɪpəˈstætɪk /

noun

1. metaphysics the essential nature of a substance as opposed to its attributes

2. Christianity

   1. any of the three persons of the Godhead, together constituting the Trinity

   2. the one person of Christ in which the divine and human natures are united

3. the accumulation of blood in an organ or part, under the influence of gravity as the result of poor circulation

4. another name for epistasis

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hypostatic
  adjective
• hypostatically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hypostases
  plural

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hypostasis hypostases

From this highest Being proceeds by a physical necessity, as light from a luminous body or water from an overflowing spring, a second hypostasis or substance, the nous or Reason.

From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Husik, Isaac

But the body pertains immediately to the human hypostasis or person, even as the soul.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

Hence since the will pertains to the nature, "to will in a certain way" belongs to the nature, not indeed considered absolutely, but as it is in the hypostasis.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

And the reason of this is that, since there is one hypostasis of both natures, the same hypostasis is signified by the name of either nature.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

But the complete being with which it concurs is said to be a hypostasis or suppositum.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

At the Council of Constantinople, 56 years later, church fathers responded to heresy by defining the divinity of the Holy Spirit and proclaiming that the three "persons," or hypostases, were coequal manifestations of one God.

From Time Magazine Archive

A distinction, however, is needed if we suppose that the relations distinguish and constitute the divine hypostases.

From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

And since created natures are individualized by matter which is the subject of the specific nature, it follows that individuals are called "subjects," supposita, or "hypostases."

From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

You did not come here; I suppose, to argue about the three hypostases.

From Thais by Douglas, Robert B. (Robert Bruce)

So as by reason of the plurality of supposita the Greeks said "three hypostases," so also in Hebrew "Elohim" is in the plural.

From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint