substance
/ˈsʌbstəns/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.23 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Ousia, essence; underlying reality or hypostasis in the philosophical sense.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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;..."
- "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."
- "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."
- "It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming."
Etymology
Inherited 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”). Displaced native Old English andweorc.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: substance, substantia
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsʌbstəns/