substance
that of which a thing consists; physical matter or material: form and substance.
a species of matter of definite chemical composition: a chalky substance.
the subject matter of thought, discourse, study, etc.
the actual matter of a thing, as opposed to the appearance or shadow; reality.
substantial or solid character or quality: claims lacking in substance.
consistency; body: soup without much substance.
the meaning or gist, as of speech or writing.
something that has separate or independent existence.
Philosophy.
something that exists by itself and in which accidents or attributes inhere; that which receives modifications and is not itself a mode; something that is causally active; something that is more than an event.
the essential part of a thing; essence.
a thing considered as a continuing whole.
possessions, means, or wealth: to squander one's substance.
Linguistics. the articulatory or acoustic reality or the perceptual manifestation of a word or other construction (distinguished from form).
a standard of weights for paper.
Idioms about substance
in substance,
concerning the essentials; substantially.
Origin of substance
1synonym study For substance
Other words for substance
Other words from substance
- sub·stance·less, adjective
Words Nearby substance
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use substance in a sentence
A judge in that case has yet to rule on most of the substance of Amazon’s lawsuit.
Oracle loses appeal in $10 billion Pentagon cloud-computing contract dispute | radmarya | September 2, 2020 | FortuneThis is a substance that can give a person immunity from a disease.
To keep a wormhole’s throat from collapsing, some substance with negative mass must prop it open.
Could ripples in spacetime point to wormholes? | Emily Conover | August 24, 2020 | Science News For StudentsWe believe the substance and process for this important park planning policy needs more attention and significant changes.
New Plan for City Parks Misses the Point | Deborah Sharpe, Howard Greenstein and Jeff Harkness | July 24, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoThese foreign invaders contain substances the body doesn’t recognize.
Scalise spoke briefly, adding little of substance, saying that the people back home know him best.
“Any time you put a foreign substance into anybody you have the potential for an adverse event,” Geisbert reminds.
Those with a slightly sleazier bent have dredged up reports of his weight gain, substance abuse, and arrest.
D’Angelo’s ‘Black Messiah’ Was Worth Waiting 15 Years For | James Joiner | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSouth Carolina and Alabama courts have already ruled late-pregnancy substance abuse can be considered a form of child abuse.
States Slap Pregnant Women With Harsher Jail Sentences | Emily Shire | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThings got even more serious when Cosby moved on to the subject of substance abuse and children.
When Bill Cosby N-Bombed the Congressional Black Caucus | Asawin Suebsaeng | December 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn withdrawing aside sorrow remaineth: and the substance of the poor is according to his heart.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousIts backbone should be the study of biology and its substance should be the threshing out of the burning questions of our day.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) WellsThe nature both of this substance and the antecedent substance from which it is derived is not known.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddBut this paper was a very tough, fibrous substance, and would resist quite a heavy blow as well as keep out the cold.
Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. PikeThere has always been a mystery connected with this remarkable substance.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
British Dictionary definitions for substance
/ (ˈsʌbstəns) /
the tangible matter of which a thing consists
a specific type of matter, esp a homogeneous material with a definite composition
the essence, meaning, etc, of a written or spoken thought
solid or meaningful quality
material density: a vacuum has no substance
material possessions or wealth: a man of substance
philosophy
the supposed immaterial substratum that can receive modifications and in which attributes and accidents inhere
a thing considered as a continuing whole that survives the changeability of its properties
Christian Science that which is eternal
a euphemistic term for any illegal drug
in substance with regard to the salient points
Origin of substance
1Derived forms of substance
- substanceless, adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with substance
see in substance; sum and substance.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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