Word.ws English Dictionary

substaunce

substaunce is the obsolete form of substance.

Meaning of substance

Noun

substance (countable and uncountable, plural substances)

  1. Physical matter; material.
    • 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.1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    Synonyms:
    matter, stuff
    1. A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
  2. The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
    • Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)
    Synonyms:
    crux, gist
  3. Substantiality; solidity; firmness.
    • Some textile fabrics have little substance.
  4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
    • a man of substance
  5. Drugs (illegal narcotics)
    • substance abuse
    Synonyms:
    dope, gear

See all 8 meanings of substance

Forms of substaunce

pluralsubstaunces

Questions about substaunce

What is substaunce the obsolete form of?
Substaunce is the obsolete form of substance.

Words near substaunce in the dictionary

  1. substations
  2. substatus
  3. substatuses
  4. substatute
  5. substatutes
  6. substaunce
  7. substaunces
  8. substellar
  9. substellate
  10. substem
  11. substems

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: substaunce (page history and authors); substance (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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Cite this entry: “substaunce.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/substaunce. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.