unsubstantiating

Verb

unsubstantiate (third-person singular simple present unsubstantiates, present participle unsubstantiating, simple past and past participle unsubstantiated)

1. To prove false; to disprove or discredit.
   • With this evidence, in addition to the findings of previous research, showing conclusively that it is not the pattern of courses followed by the student in the high school but his scholastic aptitude which determines his success in the college program, only one additional type of evidence is needed...1938, William Lawrence Wrinkle, The New High School in the Making, page 306
2. (human services) To officially categorize (an allegation) as unsubstantiated.
   • Stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to determine whether or not there was a relationship between specified factors and the decision to substantiate or unsubstantiate sexual abuse cases.1989, Dissertation Abstracts International: The humanities and social sciences, page 543
3. To call into question; to create doubt about.
   • You bring down the high economy of heaven to the standard of human convenience. You pull the fabric of God's moral government to pieces; and unsubstantiate all the solemnity of His proclaimed sayings—all the lofty annunciations of the law, and of the prophets—all that is told of the mighty...1855, Thomas Chalmers, Sermons: Select Works - Volume 4, page 209
4. To make insubstantial or abstract; unsubstantialize.
   • Shakespeare's tendency to generalise, spiritualise and unsubstantiate was as great as his capacity to particularise and substantiate.1961, James Blair Leishman, Themes and variations in Shakespeare's sonnets, page 112

See all 6 meanings of unsubstantiate