substrate

[ suhb-streyt ]

/ ˈsʌb streɪt /

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noun

a substratum.

Biochemistry. the substance acted upon by an enzyme.

Electronics. a supporting material on which a circuit is formed or fabricated.

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Origin of substrate

First recorded in 1570–80; variant of substratum

Words nearby substrate

substitution, substitution cipher, substitution reaction, substitutive, substitutivity, substrate, substratosphere, substratum, substruction, substructure, subsulfate

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

How to use substrate in a sentence

You simply can’t carry out a logic of infinite growth on a finite substrate.
Big Tech’s attention economy can be reformed. Here’s how.|Gideon Lichfield|January 10, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Somehow in that bustling cytoplasm, enzymes need to find their substrates, and signaling molecules need to find their receptors, so the cell can carry out the work of growing, dividing and surviving.
A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life|Viviane Callier|January 7, 2021|Quanta Magazine
A thick gob forms as the substance melts and gravity pulls the substrate down several stories through a tube while sensors monitor its temperature.
An inside look at how fiber optic glass is made|Stan Horaczek|December 24, 2020|Popular-Science
Their approach relies on a novel process for etching channels directly into the chip substrate.
This Microchip Has Its Own Built-In Cooling System|Edd Gent|September 14, 2020|Singularity Hub

First, if the processes that mix and spread heritable information are universal, their implementation could depend acutely on the environments and substrates in which they operate.
How Life Could Continue to Evolve - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Caleb Scharf|August 12, 2020|Nautilus
Each 6000kg sculpture is lowered to the seabed where it is drilled into the substrate to lessen the effects of turbulent weather.
Artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Underwater Sculptures Are a Sight to Sea|Justin Jones|April 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Reason therefore leads us to assume a common substrate of all things that are subject to change.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy|Isaac Husik
Seemingly there is little difference between species in preference of nesting sites; a sandy substrate is probably preferred.
North American Recent Soft-shelled Turtles (Family Trionychidae)|Robert G. Webb
Almost any other kind of illustration would fail to explain how the substrate can remain the same in the presence of forms.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 2|Plotinos (Plotinus)
If such be the nature of existence, it could be neither body, nor the substrate of bodies; for their existence is nonentity.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 2|Plotinos (Plotinus)
If we remove form from matter, the substrate that then remains neither seems nor is large (since magnitude is part of form).
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 2|Plotinos (Plotinus)

British Dictionary definitions for substrate

substrate

/ (ˈsʌbstreɪt) /

noun

biochem the substance upon which an enzyme acts

another word for substratum

electronics the semiconductor base on which other material is deposited, esp in the construction of integrated circuits

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

Scientific definitions for substrate

substrate

[ sŭb′strāt′ ]

The material or substance on which an enzyme acts. See more at enzyme.

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.