substanceとは

語源

From Old French substance, from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from substāns, present active participle of substō (“exist; 字義どおりに, stand under”), from sub + stō (“stand”).

発音

• (米国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbstəns/, [ˈsʌbstənts]

名詞

substance (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 substances)

1. Physical matter; material.
   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

     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.

   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     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.

2. The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden

     Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Bishop Burnet

     This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Burke

     It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.

3. Substantiality; solidity; firmness.

   Some textile fabrics have little substance.

4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.

   a man of substance

   • Bible, Luke xv. 13

     And there wasted his substance with riotous living.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Jonathan Swift

     We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance, but not for our own interest.

5. A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
6. Drugs (illegal narcotics)

   substance abuse

7. (theology) Hypostasis.

同意語

• (physical matter): matter, stuff; See also Thesaurus:substance
• (essential part of anything): crux, gist; See also Thesaurus:gist
• (drugs): dope, gear; See also Thesaurus:recreational drug

関連する語

• subsist
• substantial
• substantive

動詞

substance (三人称単数 現在形 substances, 現在分詞 substancing, 過去形および過去分詞形 substanced)

1. (まれに, transitive) To give substance to; to make real or substantial.
   • 1873, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, The Other Girls (page 335)

     If life were nothing but what gets phrased and substanced, the world might as well be rolled up and laid away again in darkness.

   • 1982, Dhupaty V. K. Raghavacharyulu, The Song of the Red Rose and Other Poems (page 78)

     The calm ruminating / Reverie, substancing / Intellect into emotion, / Is shelter enough for love / Unhumiliated by faith.

参考

• style