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.
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.1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations:
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;...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 308:
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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.2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
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A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
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The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
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It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace:
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Substantiality; solidity; firmness.
Some textile fabrics have little substance.
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Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
a man of substance
And there wasted his substance with riotous living.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 15:13:
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Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.c. 1594 (date written), 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, [Act I, scene i]:
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.1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [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, page 26:
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Drugs (illegal narcotics)
substance abuse
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Human sciences, Lifestyle, Philosophy, Religion, Sciences, Theology Ousia, essence; underlying reality or hypostasis in the philosophical sense.
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.
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Rare To give substance to; to make real or substantial.
If life were nothing but what gets phrased and substanced, the world might as well be rolled up and laid away again in darkness.1873, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, The Other Girls, page 335:
The calm ruminating / Reverie, substancing / Intellect into emotion, / Is shelter enough for love / Unhumiliated by faith.1982, Dhupaty V. K. Raghavacharyulu, The Song of the Red Rose and Other Poems, page 78: