substrate
Americannoun
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a substratum.
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Biochemistry. the substance acted upon by an enzyme.
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Electronics. a supporting material on which a circuit is formed or fabricated.
noun
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biochem the substance upon which an enzyme acts
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another word for substratum
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electronics the semiconductor base on which other material is deposited, esp in the construction of integrated circuits
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The material or substance on which an enzyme acts.
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See more at enzyme
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The surface on or in which plants, algae, or certain animals, such as barnacles or clams, live or grow. A substrate may serve as a source of food for an organism or simply provide support.
Etymology
Origin of substrate
First recorded in 1570–80; variant of substratum
Explanation
A substrate is the base layer of something, or a layer that's underneath another layer. It can also be a surface on which an organism grows or is attached. Substrate also has a linguistic meaning: It's an indigenous language that contributes words or parts of speech to the language of an invading people who have imposed their language on the indigenous people. Throughout the United States, for instance, there are towns with Native American names, because Native American languages form a substrate to American English.
Vocabulary lists containing substrate
ACT Vocabulary List
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Cell Biology - High School
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Unit 3: Cellular Systems
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Founded in 1987, AT&S initially made printed circuit boards before entering the IC substrate business in 2016, when it began serial production at a new plant in Chongqing, China.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
"Instead of soil, we pack these containers with a specialized coco-peat substrate derived entirely from coconut husk. We then integrate a highly precise drip-irrigation and fogging system to control micro-climates."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
JX Advanced Metals has decided to increase its indium-phosphide substrate production capacity by up to 10 times, the analysts note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Every writer, teacher and researcher who ever put words on a page has contributed, without compensation or consent, to the substrate upon which AI’s productive capacity was built.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Most juveniles were covered with cow dung or mud and blended so well with the substrate that they were detected only when they moved.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
