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substance Definition

sub·stance (sub′stəns)

noun

  1. the real or essential part or element of anything; essence, reality, or basic matter
    1. the physical matter of which a thing consists; material
    2. matter of a particular kind or chemical composition
    1. solid quality; substantial character
    2. consistency; body
  4. the real content, meaning, or gist of something said or written
  5. material possessions; property; resources; wealth
  6. ☆ a drug
  7. Philos. something that has independent existence and is acted upon by causes

Etymology: OFr < L substantia < substare, to be present < sub-, under + stare, to stand

substance Idioms

in substance

  1. with regard to essential elements
  2. actually; really
substance Synonyms

substance

n.

  1. Essence

    body, core, pith; see basis 1, essence 1, matter 1.

  2. Object

    matter, material, being, object, item, person, animal, something, element; see also thing 1.

in substance

in essence, substantially, actually; see essentially.

substance Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • prohibit: We are looking for confirmation that they cannot find any prohibited substances in the dietary supplements.
  • deplete: The Protocol aims to reduce and eventually eliminate the emissions of man-made ozone depleting substances.
  • dissolve: All dissolved substances will contribute to the osmotic pressure of a fluid.
  • secrete: When the bat bites its victim, it secretes this powerful clot-dissolving substance so that the victim's blood will keep flowing.
  • ban: There is concern that the illicit market in banned substances may erode the future success of the Protocol.
  • occur: In fact diamond is the hardest known naturally occurring substance.

Adjective modifier

  • hazardous: Chemicals or hazardous substances can damage people's lives.
  • toxic: The water changes color due to the release of toxic substances through the 2000 pores on the soles of each foot.. .
  • dangerous: A list of commonly used dangerous substances can be supplied to you by the HSE.
  • radioactive: A very small amount of a mildly radioactive substance is injected into a vein, usually in the arm.
  • harmful: In pregnancy, harmful substances in the mother's body may cross the placenta to affect the unborn baby.
  • active: Existing data on the extent to which the active substance is affected by varying conditions should be taken into account.

Modifies a noun

  • misuse: Substance misuse is a growing problem around the world.
  • misuser: The report found that 1 in 60 prisoners were involved in providing support to substance misusers.
  • abuse: Spells with a primary diagnosis of substance abuse or eating disorder are excluded.
  • P: Substance P Nerves from nociceptors use this peptide to activate relay neurons in the spinal cord.

Noun used with modifier

  • ozone-depleting: Many countries, for example, now have technical standard regulations limiting or banning the use of ozone-depleting substances.
  • mood-altering: One aspect of taking mood-altering substances may require legislation: the protection of others from annoyance and harm.
  • chemical: A hormone is a chemical substance that is produced in a special tissue within a gland.
  • regulating: It is involved in the formation of certain hormones and nerve regulating substances, and is particularly supportive of the adrenal glands.
substance Quotes

Of no ageönor of any religion, or party or profession. The body and substance of his works came out of the unfathomable depths of his own oceanic mind.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

Leben ist, dass imWechsel der Materie die Form erhalten bleibt. Life is that the form is maintained through the change of substance.

—Mann,Thomas

Charisma without substance is a dangerous thing.

—Campbell, Kim originally Avril Phaedra Campbell

High office teaches decision-making, not substance. It Klee consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered: they learn how to make decisions, but not what decisions to make.

—Kissinger, HenryAlfred

Je suis triste pour ma ge¤  ne¤  ration qui est vide de toute substance humaine. I am sad for my generation which is empty of all human substance.

—Saint-Exupe¤  ry, Antoine de

But God, if a God there be, is the substance of men which is man.

—Swinburne, Algernon Charles

I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms.I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquidsöand Imight even be said to possess a mind.I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me† When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imaginationöindeed, everything and anything except me.

—Ellison, RalphWaldo

   London, thou art of townes A per se. Soveraign of cities, someliest in sight, Of high renoun, riches, and royaltie; Of lordis, barons, and many goodly knyght; Of most delectable lusty ladies bright; Of famous prelatis in habitis clericall; Of merchauntis full of sybstaunce and myght; London, thou art the flour of Cities all.

—Dumas, Alexandre, pe'  re

   I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Very God of very God,Begotten, not made,Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.

—Book of Common Prayer

Avotary of the desköa notched and cropt scriveneröone that sucks his substance, as certain sick people are said to do, through a quill.

—Lamb, Charles

Nec species sua cuique manet, rerumque novatrix ex aliis alias reddit natura figuras. nec perit in toto quidquam, mihi credite, mundo, sed variat faciemque novat, nascique vocatur incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante, morique, desinere illud idem. cum sint huc forsitan illa, haec translata illuc, summa tamen omnia constant. No species remains constant: that great renovator of matter Nature, endlessly fashions new forms from old: there's nothing in the whole universe that perishes, believe me; rather it renews and varies its substance. What we describe as birth isno morethan incipient change froma prior state, while dying is merely to quit it. Though the parts may be transported hither and thither, the sum of all matter is constant.

—Ovid full name Publius OvidiusNaso   4317

Give not thy soul unto a woman to set her foot upon thy substance.

—Bible (Apocrypha)

Per Deum intelligo ens absolute infinitum, hoc est, substantiam constantem infinitis attributis, quorum unumquodque aeternam et infinitam essentiam exprimit. By God I mean a being absolutely infiniteöthat is, a substance consisting in infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality.

—Spinoza, Baruch also known as Benedict de Spinoza

From you, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, The substance of my dreams took fire. You built cathedrals in my heart, And lit my pinnacled desire.

—Sassoon, Siegfried Louvain

Rompre l'os et sucer la substantifique moelle. Break the bone and suck out the very substance.

—Rabelais, Fran c° ois

Man is a torch borne in the wind; a dream But of a shadow, summed with all his substance.

—Chapman, George

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

—Bible (NewTestament)

  With high words, that bore Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears.

—Milton,John