Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use insubstantial in a sentence

10 example sentences · adjective

Insubstantial means lacking substance; not real or strong. Example: “The bridge was insubstantial and would not safely carry a car.”

Examples of insubstantial by meaning

adjectiveLacking substance; not real or strong.

  • The bridge was insubstantial and would not safely carry a car.
  • By manipulating the flow of magic, Eragon quickly descended from the Ra'zac's lair—which the insubstantial wall of stone once again hid—to the ledge.2008, Christopher Paolini, “Rider and Ra'zac”, in Brisingr, pages 67-8

More sentences with insubstantial

  • While I was astrally projecting, I felt my soul pass through many insubstantial netherworlds.From the entry netherworld
  • It's a weak form of phobophage - a fear-eater, mostly insubstantial."2018 June 5, Jim Butcher, Brief Cases: The Dresden Files, Hachette UK, →ISBN. From the entry boggart
  • Note also that we can always use nominalization to substantify an insubstantial object.2013, D. Fisette, Husserl's Logical Investigations Reconsidered, page 190. From the entry substantify
  • But the overall effect is flimsy and insubstantial, a gifted writer punching well below his weight.2001 September 29, “For men who should know better”, in The Telegraph, UK, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2013. From the entry punch below one's weight
  • The scene around her—the buildings, the people—all appeared underwaterish—insubstantial and weaving.2000, Robert K. Wen, Love Across the Pacific, →ISBN, page 131. From the entry underwaterish
  • Some Americans may have concluded that such passionate pleinairism was unsustainable; it may have seemed too chaotic, insubstantial, repetitious, or ugly.2017, Kathleen A. Foster, American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent, page 214. From the entry pleinairism
  • Tonight the church seems to have a separate existence, apart from the world or even Rome; to be more spiritual, more insubstantial than even the Trinita there.1901, Edward Hutton, Frederic Uvedale: A Romance, page 196. From the entry asail
  • We were walking on grass now, and I saw that the tent-cathedral had been pitched on a champian surrounded by semifortified houses; its insubstantial belfries looked down upon their parapets.1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XIX, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 170. From the entry semifortified

Meaning of insubstantial

  1. adjective Lacking substance; not real or strong.

Full definition of insubstantial

Questions about insubstantial in a sentence

How do you use insubstantial in a sentence?
Insubstantial is used as an adjective. For example: “The bridge was insubstantial and would not safely carry a car.”
What is a short sentence with insubstantial?
“It's a weak form of phobophage - a fear-eater, mostly insubstantial."”
What does insubstantial mean?
Insubstantial means lacking substance; not real or strong.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: insubstantial (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use insubstantial in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/insubstantial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.