sum and substance

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noun

main idea, gist, or point: the sum and substance of an argument.

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IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?

have

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Origin of sum and substance

First recorded in 1585–95

Words nearby sum and substance

Sulu Sea, Sulzberger, sum, sumac, sumach, sum and substance, Sumatra, Sumatra camphor, Sumatran, Sumatran elephant, sumatriptan

How to use sum and substance in a sentence

As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Scalise spoke briefly, adding little of substance, saying that the people back home know him best.
The Price of Steve Scalise’s Silence|Jason Berry|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game|Michael Tomasky|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Later that night, that same black-and-red banner would be seen again—in the column of marchers chanting for dead cops.
The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops|Jacob Siegel|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was such a magnificent sum that Sol did not feel like taking the familiarity with it of mentioning it aloud.
The Bondboy|George W. (George Washington) Ogden
In withdrawing aside sorrow remaineth: and the substance of the poor is according to his heart.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Its 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) Wells
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift

Other Idioms and Phrases with sum and substance

sum and substance

The essence or gist of something, as in The sum and substance of their platform is financial conservatism. This redundant expression—both sum and substance here mean “essence”—has probably survived owing to alliteration. Shakespeare used it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (4:1): “My riches are these poor habiliments [clothes], Of which if you should here disfurnish me, You take the sum and substance that I have.”

sum and substance

Origin of sum and substance

Words nearby sum and substance

Words related to sum and substance

How to use sum and substance in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with sum and substance