substance definition

English substance definition

Alternative forms

• substaunce (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English substance, 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)

• Rhymes: -ʌbstəns

Noun

substance (countable and uncountable, plural substances)

2. 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.

   • 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Francesca Carrara, volume 2, page 308:

     His wasted hands were stretched out, and worked with a quick and convulsive motion, as if catching some small substances which kept eluding their grasp;...

   • 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.

   Synonyms: matter, stuff

   2. A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.

      Coordinate terms: compound, element, mixture, composite

3. The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
   • 1668, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, M. DC. LXVI. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], OCLC 1064438096, (please specify the stanza number):

     Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.

   • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth

     This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.

   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.

   Synonyms: crux, gist

4. Substantiality; solidity; firmness.

   Some textile fabrics have little substance.

5. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.

   a man of substance

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 15:13:

     And there wasted his substance with riotous living.

   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

     Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.

   • 1711 December 8, [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, OCLC 1204920679, page 26:

     And as we have waſted our Strength and vital Subſtance in this profuſe manner, ſo we have ſhamefully miſapplied it to Ends at leaſt very different from thoſe for which we undertook the War, and often to effect others which after a Peace we may ſeverely repent.

6. Drugs (illegal narcotics)

   substance abuse

   Synonyms: dope, gear

7. (theology) Hypostasis.

Synonyms

• (physical matter): See also Thesaurus:substance
• (essential part of anything): See also Thesaurus:gist
• (drugs): See also Thesaurus:recreational drug

Related terms

Translations

Verb

substance (third-person singular simple present substances, present participle substancing, simple past and past participle substanced)

1. (rare, transitive) To give substance to; to make real or substantial.
   • 1873, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, The Other Girls, page 335:

     If life were nothing but what gets phrased and substanced, the world might as well be rolled up and laid away again in darkness.

   • 1982, Dhupaty V. K. Raghavacharyulu, The Song of the Red Rose and Other Poems, page 78:

     The calm ruminating / Reverie, substancing / Intellect into emotion, / Is shelter enough for love / Unhumiliated by faith.

See also

• style

French substance definition

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

• “substance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• cubassent

Middle English substance definition

Etymology

From Old French substance.

Noun

substance

1. essence
   • c. 15th century, Julian of Norwich, The Long Text; republished as chapter XLV, in A Book of Showings: The Long Text, edited from MS BN Fonds anglais 40, […], Toronto, Ont.: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1978:

     God demyth vs vpon oure kyndely substance, whych is evyr kepte one in hym, hole and safe without ende;

     God judges us according to our true essence, which he keeps inside himself, whole and safe, always.

     Translation: Mirabai Starr (2013), chapter 45, in Julian of Norwich: The Showings: A Contemporary Translation, Canterbury Press, published 2014, →ISBN, “Human Judgment”, page 111.

Descendants

• English: substance

Old French substance definition

Alternative forms

• sostance, sustance

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin substantia.

Noun

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

1. most essential; substantial part
2. existence

Related terms

• substantiel

Descendants