Substance definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

View all »
Definitions (45)

American Heritage Dictionary (8)

noun That which has mass and occupies space; matter.
noun A material of a particular kind or constitution.
noun Essential nature; essence.

5 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (28)

That which exists by itself, and in which accidents inhere; that which receives modifications, and is not itself a mode; that which corresponds, in the reality of things, to the subject in logic. Aristotle and Kant agree in making the conception of substance essentially the same as that of a subject of predication. But it is difficult to find a property by which substances may be recognized; for the above definition seems to afford none. Many philosophers hold that whatever is perdurable is substance. This, however, would include mechanical energy. Indeed, since every physical law can be stated in the form of an equation, and since that equation must have a constant term, it follows that every absolute uniformity of nature must consist in the perdurability of some quantity. Aristotle makes substances proper, called first substances, to be things individual; but this comports with few philosophical systems. Thus, in the medieval development of Aristotelianism, scientific propositions were regarded as universal statements concerning natures, so that the true subjects, or substances, were universal. Moreover, to make individuality the criterion of substance would seem to make space, as the source of individuality, the only first substance. At any rate, under that view, spatial positions would be substances in a preëminent sense. Others, remarking that the parts of space are not distinct in themselves, apart from their relations to material things, make self-existence, or the being distinct from all other things, not by virtue of modifications or characters, but by the thing's own nature, or arbitrary extrusion of itself, to be the chief mark of a substance, which would thus be most simply defined as an independent entity. Substance and essence are nearly synonymous, except that the latter cannot appropriately be used to designate an individual and lifeless thing. They add … that as he [Christ] coupled the substance of his flesh and the substance of bread together, so we together should receive both. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 67. Since the substance of your perfect self Is else devoted, I am but a shadow; And to your shadow will I make true love. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 2. 124. A substance is a being subsisting of itself and subject to accidents. To subsist by itself is nothing else than not to be in anything as in a subject; and it agrees to all substances, even to God, but to be subject to accidents only to finite; for God is not subject to accidents. Substance is either first or second. The first is a singular substance, or that which is not said of a subject, as Alexander, Bucephalus. The second is that which is said of a subject, as man, horse. For man is said of Alexander and Philip, and horse of Bucephalus and Cyllarus. Burgersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman, i. 4. I confess there is another idea which would be of general use for mankind to have, as it is of general talk as if they had it; and that is the idea of substance, which we neither have, nor can have, by sensation or reflection. If nature took care to provide us any ideas, we might well expect they should be such as by our own facultieswe cannot procure to ourselves: but we see on the contrary that since by those ways whereby our ideas are brought into our minds this is not, we have no such clear idea at all, and therefore signify nothing by the word substance but only an uncertain supposition of we know not what, i. e., of some thing whereof we have no particular distinct positive idea, which we take to be the substratum, or support, of those ideas we do know. … Had the poor Indian philosopher (who imagined that the earth also wanted something to bear it up) but thought of this word substance, he needed not to have been at the trouble to find an elephant to support it, and a tortoise to support his elephant: the word substance would have done it effectually. And he that inquired might have taken it for as good an answer from an Indian philosopher, that substance, without knowing what it is, is that which supports the earth, as we take it for a sufficient answer and good doctrine from our European philosophers that substance, without knowing what it is, is that which supports accidents. So that of substance we have no idea of what it is, but only a confused obscure one of what it does. Locke, Human Understanding, i. 4, § 18, and ii. 13, § 19. Substance, if we leave out the sensuous condition of permanence, would mean nothing but a something that may be conceived as a subject, without being the predicate of anything else. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Müller, II. 130.
The real or essential part; the essence. And wel I woot the substance is in me, If any thing shal wel reported be. Chaucer, Prol. to Nun's Priests Tale, l. 37. Miserable bigots, … who hate sects and parties different from their own more than they love the substance of religion. Burke, Rev. in France. At the close of the [seventeenth] century, … the sovereign retained the shadow of that authority of which the Tudors had held the substance. Macaulay, Sir William Temple. All the forms are fugitive, But the substances survive. Emerson, Woodnotes, ii.
In theology, the divine being or essence, common to the three persons of the Trinity. One Lord Jesus Christ, … being of one substance with the Father. Nicene Creed.

25 more from this dictionary »

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (7)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

But the substance is also an oxidizing agent that can be combined with fuel to create an explosion. — Market News
"They tweaked it a little bit but the substance is the same." — CNN Political Ticker
One mole of a substance is the mass that contains the same number of particles (atoms, molecules, ions, or electrons) as there are atoms in 12 grams of the carbon-12. — Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
In the event of a chemical spill at a specific plant, for example, the LEPC member employed at the facility would be able to immediately tell first responders exactly what the substance is and where and how it is stored.
Los Angeles Firefighters along with LAPD and Los Angeles County Health Haz Mat determined that the substance was a pepper spray type of release. — LAFD News & Information

More examples »

substance

View all »
Definitions (45)

American Heritage Dictionary (8)

Century Dictionary (28)

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (7)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Word Family

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Century Dictionary (2)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

substance

View all » Definitions (45)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

synonyms:

related word:

synonyms:

Etymologies (3)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (45)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »