Word.ws English Dictionary

presubstantial

presubstantial adjective: having no physical substance, but having the potential to become substantial.

Adjective

presubstantial (not comparable)

  1. Having no physical substance, but having the potential to become substantial.
    • Faith, which has but one definition, the realization of the invisible, begins by realizing the invisible past, the prehistoric, the pre-Adamite, the prematerial presubstantial past, and understands that it was by a fiat of the Self-Existent that it was made to be.1894, Charles John Vaughan, Last Words in the Temple Church, page 221
    • By way of explanation, Narbonne suggests that Plotinus accepts the Aristotelian notions of actuality and potentiality used to explain change in substance, but also elaborates a new, presubstantial notion of potentiality.2003, Jennifer Yhap, Plotinus on the Soul: A Study in the Metaphysics of Knowledge, page 118

Origin of presubstantial

From pre- + substantial.

Questions about presubstantial

What does presubstantial mean?
Presubstantial means having no physical substance, but having the potential to become substantial.
What part of speech is presubstantial?
Presubstantial is an adjective.

Words near presubstantial in the dictionary

  1. presubmit
  2. presubmits
  3. presubmitted
  4. presubmitting
  5. presubocular
  6. presubstantial
  7. presuburban
  8. presuffrage
  9. presuicidal
  10. presuicide
  11. presuit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: presubstantial (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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