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 (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.
   • John Dryden (1631-1700)

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

   • Bishop Burnet

     This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.

   • Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

     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.

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

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

   • Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

     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.

関連する語

• subsist
• substantial
• substantive

参考

• style