Adjacent Words

Substance definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUB'STANCE, n. [L. substantia, substo; sub and sto, to stand.]
1. In a general sense, being; something existing by itself; that which really is or exists; equally applicable to matter or spirit. Thus the soul of man is called an immaterial substance, a cogitative substance, a substance endued with thought. We say, a stone is a hard substance, tallow is a soft substance.
2. That which supports accidents.
That which subsists by itself is called substance; that which subsists in and by another, is called a mode or manner of being.
3. The essential part; the main or material part. In this epitome, we have the substance of the whole book.
This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
4. Something real, not imaginary; something solid, not empty.
Heroic virtue did his actions guide,
And he the substance, not th' appearance chose.
5. Body; corporeal nature or matter.
The qualities of plants are more various than those of animal substances.
6. Goods; estate; means of living. Job's substance was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, etc. Job 1.
We are--exhausting our substance, but not for our own interest.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists; "DNA is the substance of our genes"
2: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" [syn: kernel, substance, core, center, centre, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty- gritty]
3: the idea that is intended; "What is the meaning of this proverb?" [syn: meaning, substance]
4: material of a particular kind or constitution; "the immune response recognizes invading substances"
5: considerable capital (wealth or income); "he is a man of means" [syn: means, substance]
6: what a communication that is about something is about [syn: message, content, subject matter, substance]
7: a particular kind or species of matter with uniform properties; "shigella is one of the most toxic substances known to man"

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin substantia, from substant-, substans, present participle of substare to stand under, from sub- + stare to stand — more at stand Date: 14th century 1. a. essential nature ; essence b. a fundamental or characteristic part or quality c. Christian Science god 1b 2. a. ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change b. practical importance ; meaning, usefulness <the…bill—which will be without substance in the sense that it will authorize nothing more than a set of ideas — Richard Reeves> 3. a. physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence b. matter of particular or definite chemical constitution c. something (as drugs or alcoholic beverages) deemed harmful and usually subject to legal restriction <possession of a controlled substance> <substance abuse> 4. material possessions ; property <a family of substance> • substanceless adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the essential material, esp. solid, forming a thing (the substance was transparent). b a particular kind of material having uniform properties (this substance is salt). 2 a reality; solidity (ghosts have no substance). b seriousness or steadiness of character (there is no substance in him). 3 the theme or subject of esp. a work of art, argument, etc. (prefer the substance to the style). 4 the real meaning or essence of a thing. 5 wealth and possessions (a woman of substance). 6 Philos. the essential nature underlying phenomena, which is subject to changes and accidents. Phrases and idioms: in substance generally; apart from details. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L substantia (as SUB-, stare stand)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Substance Sub"stance, v. t. To furnish or endow with substance; to supply property to; to make rich. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Substance Sub"stance, n. [F., fr. L. substantia, fr. substare to be under or present, to stand firm; sub under + stare to stand. See Stand.] 1. That which underlies all outward manifestations; substratum; the permanent subject or cause of phenomena, whether material or spiritual; that in which properties inhere; that which is real, in distinction from that which is apparent; the abiding part of any existence, in distinction from any accident; that which constitutes anything what it is; real or existing essence. These cooks, how they stamp, and strain, and grind, And turn substance into accident! --Chaucer. Heroic virtue did his actions guide, And he the substance, not the appearance, chose. --Dryden. 2. The most important element in any existence; the characteristic and essential components of anything; the main part; essential import; purport. This edition is the same in substance with the Latin. --Bp. Burnet. It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming. --Burke. 3. Body; matter; material of which a thing is made; hence, substantiality; solidity; firmness; as, the substance of which a garment is made; some textile fabrics have little substance. 4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources. And there wasted his substance with riotous living. --Luke xv. 13. Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, Can not amount unto a hundred marks. --Shak. We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance, but not for our own interest. --Swift. 5. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis, 2.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(substances) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A substance is a solid, powder, liquid, or gas with particular properties. There's absolutely no regulation of cigarettes to make sure that they don't include poisonous substances... The substance that's causing the problem comes from the barley. N-COUNT: usu with supp 2. Substance is the quality of being important or significant. (FORMAL) It's questionable whether anything of substance has been achieved... Syria will attend only if the negotiations deal with issues of substance. N-UNCOUNT: oft with brd-neg 3. The substance of what someone says or writes is the main thing that they are trying to say. The substance of his discussions doesn't really matter. N-SING: the N of n 4. If you say that something has no substance, you mean that it is not true. (FORMAL) There is no substance in any of these allegations. = truth

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sub'-stans (rekhush; hupostasis): Lit. that which stands under, is in the Bible used chiefly of material goods and possessions. In the Old Testament it is the translation of numerous Hebrew words, of which rekhush, "that which is gathered together," is one of the earliest and most significant (Ge 12:5; 13:6; 15:14; 1Ch 27:31; Ezr 8:21, etc.). In the New Testament "substance" appears in a few passages as the translation of ousia, "being," "subsistence" (Lu 15:13), huparxis, "goods," "property" (Heb 10:34), huparchonta, "things at hand" (Lu 8:3). Special interest attaches to Heb 11:1, the King James Version "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for," etc., where the word is used in its proper etymological sense as the translation of hupostasis, "that which stands under." the Revised Version (British and American) changes to "assurance," margin "the giving substance to," which last seems best to bring out the idea of faith as that which makes the things hoped for real to the soul. The same Greek word hupostasis is rendered "substance" in Heb 1:3 the Revised Version (British and American), instead of the King James Version "person," with reference to Christ, "the very image (margin "impress") of his substance," i.e. of God's invisible essence or being, the manifestation of God Himself.

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Substratum, groundwork, reality, hypostasis, substantiality, essential nature, real being, real existence. 2. Meaning, import, significance, essence, pith, gist, soul, chief part, essential part, vital part. 3. Body, matter, material, texture, stuff. 4. Property, wealth, means, estate. 5. (Theol.) Divine essence, divine being.

Moby Thesaurus

Swiss bank account, actuality, affective meaning, affluence, air, amount, amplitude, assets, atom, atomic particles, atoms, axiom, balance, bank account, basis, bearing, being, bench mark, best part, better part, body, bottom, bottom dollar, bottomless purse, brute matter, budget, building block, bulging purse, bulk, burden, call, cardinal point, case, cash reserves, cause, center, chapter, checking account, chemical element, chief thing, climax, coloring, command of money, component, composition, concern, concreteness, connotation, consequence, constituent, core, cornerstone, corporeality, corpus, crisis, critical point, crux, denotation, density, distillate, distillation, drift, durability, earth, easy circumstances, effect, element, elementary particle, elementary unit, elixir, embarras de richesses, entity, essence, essential, essential matter, essentiality, exchequer, extension, extent, fabric, finances, fire, firmness, flower, focus, focus of attention, focus of interest, force, fortune, foundation, fund, fundamental, fundamental particle, funds, generality, gist, gold, good reason, grammatical meaning, gravamen, great point, ground, grounds, handsome fortune, head, heading, heart, high income, high point, high tax bracket, hyle, hypostasis, idea, impact, implication, import, important thing, independence, individual, inner essence, intension, issue, kernel, keystone, kitty, landmark, lexical meaning, life savings, literal meaning, living issue, lucre, luxuriousness, magnitude, main body, main point, main thing, major part, majority, mammon, marrow, mass, material, material basis, material point, material resources, material wealth, material world, materiality, materials, materiel, matter, matter in hand, meaning, meaningfulness, means, measure, measurement, meat, medium, milestone, molecule, monad, money, money to burn, moneybags, moneys, most, motif, motive, natural world, nature, nest egg, nub, nubbin, nucleus, numbers, nuts and bolts, object, opulence, opulency, overtone, palpability, pecuniary resources, pelf, pertinence, physical world, pith, pivot, plenum, plurality, pocket, point, point at issue, point in question, ponderability, pool, possessions, postulate, practical consequence, principle, problem, property, prosperity, prosperousness, purport, purse, quantity, quantum, question, quid, quiddity, quintessence, quintessential, range of meaning, raw material, real issue, real meaning, reality, reason, recap, recapitulation, reference, referent, relation, relevance, reserves, resources, resume, riches, richness, right, rubric, run-through, rundown, salient point, sap, savings, savings account, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, short, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, sine qua non, solidity, soul, soundness, span of meaning, spirit, stability, staple, steadiness, stock, store, stoutness, strength, structural meaning, stuff, sturdiness, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, substances, substantiality, substantialness, substantive point, substratum, sum, sum and substance, sum total, summary, summation, supply, symbolic meaning, tangibility, tangible, tenor, text, the bottom line, the four elements, the nitty-gritty, the point, theme, thrust, topic, totality of associations, toughness, transferred meaning, treasure, turning point, unadorned meaning, undertone, unit of being, unregistered bank account, upper bracket, upshot, value, warrant, water, wealth, wealthiness, wherewithal, whole, worth