substance

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French substance, from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from substāns, present active participle of substō (“exist; literally, stand under”), from sub + stō (“stand”).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsʌbstəns/, [ˈsʌbstənts]
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

substance (plural substances)

  1. Physical matter; material.
    • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
      Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.
  2. The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.
    • Bishop Burnet
      This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
    • Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
      It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.
  3. Substantiality; solidity; firmness.
    Some textile fabrics have little substance.
  4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
    a man of substance
    • Bible, Luke xv. 13
      And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.
    • Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
      We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance, but not for our own interest.
  5. A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
  6. Drugs (illegal narcotics)
    substance abuse
  7. (theology) Hypostasis.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from substāns, present active participle of substō (“exist; literally, stand under”), from sub + stō (“stand”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /syp.stɑ̃s/
  • audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

substance f (plural substances)

  1. substance

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin substantia.

Noun

substance f (oblique plural substances, nominative singular substance, nominative plural substances)

  1. most essential; substantial part
  2. existence

Descendants

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