# substantial

Pronunciation: US say "suhb-STAN-shuhl" /səbˈstænʃəl/; UK

## Adjective

1. Large in size, quantity, or value; ample enough to be significant.
   - Simple: Large in amount, size, or value, and big enough to matter.
   - _The company reported substantial losses in the third quarter._
   - _Restoring the old theater will require a substantial investment of time and money._
2. Solidly made of good material; strong, stout, and firm.
   - Simple: Strongly built and solid, not weak or easily broken.
   - _The substantial oak table survived three generations of family dinners._
   - _They replaced the flimsy wire gate with a substantial iron one._
3. Satisfying; containing enough substance to be nourishing or filling.
   - Simple: Filling and satisfying, with enough food to make you feel full.
   - _The diner serves substantial portions that easily feed two people._
   - _A thick stew felt substantial enough to carry her through the afternoon shift._
4. Most important; essential to the matter in question.
   - Simple: Most important, forming the main part of something.
   - _The substantial question before the court was whether the contract ever existed._
   - _Reporters chased gossip and ignored the substantial issues of the campaign._
5. Real rather than imaginary; actually existing and truly what it appears to be.
   - Simple: Real and true, not imaginary or made up.
   - _What seemed a mere legend rested on substantial events in the town's past._
   - _Their hopes of rescue proved substantial when the ship appeared on the horizon._
6. Corporeal and material; having physical substance and firmness.
   - Simple: Made of real, solid material that you can touch.
   - _She woke from the dream into the substantial world of brick and iron._
   - _The figure in the hallway proved substantial when he collided with it._
7. Having a substance; existing in actual fact.
   - Simple: Actually existing as a real thing, not just an idea.
   - _For the old mystic, the visible world was a passing shadow, and only the life of the spirit was substantial._
   - _Philosophers have long asked whether numbers are substantial or exist only in the mind._
8. Possessing considerable goods or property; moderately wealthy and well established.
   - Simple: Having enough money and property to live comfortably.
   - _He married into a substantial merchant family from Boston._
   - _The town's substantial citizens funded the new library._

## Noun

9. Anything that has real substance, or an essential part of something.
   - Simple: A real thing, or an important and necessary part of something.
   - _Trust is the one substantial on which every partnership rests._
   - _For the weary traveler, bread and shelter were the true substantials of life._

## Origin

From Middle English "substancial", borrowed from Old French "substanciel", which came from the Latin word "substantiālis".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/substantial (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).