Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

unsubstantial

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.59 in modern English

Syllables: un-sub-stan-tial
IPA

15

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Archaic

Example Sentences

"What boots it, that my Fortune decks me thus / With unſubſtantial Plumes; when my Heart groans / Beneath the gay Capariſon, and Love / With unrequited Paſſion wounds my Soul!"
"They are (said he) meer phantoms of ignorance and credulity, swelled up in the repetition, like those unsubstantial bubbles which the boys blow up in sopasuds with a tobacco pipe."
"They shook hands upon it, and Sydney turned away. Within a minute afterward he was, to all outward appearance, as unsubstantial as ever."
"Psychoanalysis, the modern science of reading dreams, has taught us to take heed of these unsubstantial images."

Etymology

From un- + substantial.

Usage

Archaic

Inflected Forms

more unsubstantial (comparative) most unsubstantial (superlative)

Derived Forms

unsubstantialize unsubstantially unsubstantialness

Synonyms

airy aery ethereal diaphanous immaterial insubstantial tenuous unreal unsubstantial

Questions

What does unsubstantial mean?: Insubstantial.
Where does unsubstantial come from?: From un- + substantial.

How to pronounce unsubstantial

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “unsubstantial”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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