substantial
/səbˈstænʃəl/
substantial adjective: having a substance; actually existing.
Adjective
substantial (comparative more substantial, superlative most substantial)
- Having a substance; actually existing.
- substantial life
- Not imaginary; real; actual; true; veritable.
- to do some substantial good, is the compensation for much incidental imperfection1850s, Cardinal John Henry Newman, The Rise and Progress of Universities
- Corporeal; material; firm.
- Having good substance; strong; stout; solid; firm.
- substantial cloth
- a substantial fence or wall
- Synonyms:
- sturdy
- Addressing the substance of an injury
- Substantial damages (i.e. damages set at a level that exactly covers the plaintiff's losses; synonym: compensatory damgages)
- Possessed of goods or an estate; moderately wealthy.
- a substantial freeholder
- Large in size, quantity, or value; ample; significant.
- He inherited a substantial amount of money from his uncle.
- A substantial number of people went to the event.
- Most important; essential.
- Satisfying; having sufficient substance to be nourishing or filling.
- I don't just want a snack; I need something substantial.
- Teddy had a few crackers in his backpack, but he needed something more substantial if he was to survive a three-day trek.
Noun
substantial (plural substantials)
- Anything having substance; an essential part.
substantial meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
substantial in Tamil
- கணிசமான, பெரிதான, போதிய அளவான, போதுமான அளவு, கணிசமாயுள்ள, முக்கிய பகுதி
substantial in Urdu
- substantial
- تذکرہ tezkirah, ٹھوس ṭhos
substantial in Bengali
- সারগর্ভ, দেহী, দৃঢ়কায়, বাস্তব, প্রকৃত, প্রকৃত অস্তিত্বপূর্ণ
substantial in Telugu
- substantial
- ఆర్థికము ārthikamu
More languagesFewer languages
- substantial in Malayalam
- മൂർത്തമായ, യഥാർത്ഥമായ, യാഥാർത്ഥിക, സത്യമായ
- substantial in Kannada
- ದೊಡ್ಡದಾದ, ಬೃಹತ್ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ, ಗಣನೀಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ, ಭದ್ರವಾದ
- substantial in Sanskrit
- वास्तव vāstava, आर्थिक ārthika
- substantial in Arabic
- حَقِيقِيّ ḥaqīqiyy
Examples of substantial in a sentence
- The blind man laughed and a substantial coin found its billet in the caretaker's never-reluctant palm.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
- Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me / Today I need something more sub-sub-sub-substantial / A can of beans or black-eyed peas, some Nescafe and ice1992, “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite”, in Automatic for the People, performed by R.E.M.:
Synonyms of substantial
Antonyms
Forms of substantial
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more substantial |
| superlative | most substantial |
| alternative form (obsolete) | substancial |
| Noun | |
| plural | substantials |
Origin of substantial
From Middle English substancial, substantiall, from Old French substanciel, substantiel and its etymon Latin substantiālis.
Words formed from substantial
Questions about substantial
- What does substantial mean?
- Substantial means having a substance; actually existing.
- What is substantial in Tamil?
- Substantial in Tamil is கணிசமான, பெரிதான, போதிய அளவான. See Substantial meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use substantial in a sentence?
- The blind man laughed and a substantial coin found its billet in the caretaker's never-reluctant palm.
- What part of speech is substantial?
- Substantial can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce substantial?
- Substantial is pronounced /səbˈstænʃəl/.
Words near substantial in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: substantial (page history and authors); substantial (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); تذکرہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); substantial (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఆర్థికము (Telugu) (page history and authors); substantial (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); substantial (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आर्थिक (Sanskrit) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-substantial.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-substantial.wav.
Cite this entry: “substantial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/substantial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.