What is another word for unsubstantial?

Pronunciation: [ʌnsəbstˈanʃə͡l] (IPA)

Unsubstantial is a word used to describe something that lacks substance or weight, or seems insubstantial. Synonyms for unsubstantial include immaterial, intangible, insubstantial, airy, ephemeral, ethereal, gossamer, thin, tenuous, flimsy, frail, weak, and slight. These words convey a sense of fragility, fleetingness or invisibility to the subject they describe. For instance, an argument that lacks factual evidence could be described as weak, while a promise without any firm basis or conviction could be called insubstantial. Tenuous and frail are also useful alternatives to convey something that is unstable, uncertain, or unsound. Ultimately, the choice of word depends on the context and the intended meaning, but each of these synonymous terms can help add depth and precision to your writing.

Synonyms for Unsubstantial:

What are the hypernyms for Unsubstantial?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

What are the opposite words for unsubstantial?

Unsubstantial is a term that is used to describe something that is lacking in substance, like something that is insubstantial, imperceptible, intangible, or invisible. Antonyms for unsubstantial would be physical, tangible, substantial, solid, and concrete. When comparing these antonyms to the original term, it becomes apparent that unsubstantial is an adjective that implies that something is not real or has no clear existence. In contrast, the antonyms suggest that the object or concept in question is clear and well-defined, capable of being touched, seen, or understood. Overall, knowing the antonyms for unsubstantial is useful for accurately describing different objects or concepts and avoiding confusion in communication.

What are the antonyms for Unsubstantial?

Usage examples for Unsubstantial

She saw the forms of Ralph, William, Cassandra, and herself, as if they were all equally unsubstantial, and, in putting off reality, had gained a kind of dignity which rested upon each impartially.
"Night and Day"
Virginia Woolf
I imagine that Mr. Darwin, casting about for a substantial difference, and being unable to find one, committed the Gladstonian blunder of mistaking an unsubstantial for a substantial one.
"Luck or Cunning?"
Samuel Butler
Doubtless their action was applauded by all the substantial men in the neighbourhood; the others who lived in the cottages and were unsubstantial didn't matter.
"Afoot in England"
W.H. Hudson

Famous quotes with Unsubstantial

  • It is a dreadful picture—this picture of Italy under the rule of the oligarchy. There was nothing to bridge over or soften the fatal contrast between the world of the beggars and the world of the rich. The more clearly and painfully this contrast was felt on both sides—the giddier the height to which riches rose, the deeper the abyss of poverty yawned—the more frequently, amidst that changeful world of speculation and playing at hazard, were individuals tossed from the bottom to the top and again from the top to the bottom. The wider the chasm by which the two worlds were externally divided, the more completely they coincided in the like annihilation of family life—which is yet the germ and core of all nationality—in the like laziness and luxury, the like unsubstantial economy, the like unmanly dependence, the like corruption differing only in its tariff, the like criminal demoralization, the like longing to begin the war with property. Riches and misery in close league drove the Italians out of Italy, and filled the peninsula partly with swarms of slaves, partly with awful silence. It is a terrible picture, but not one peculiar to Italy; wherever the government of capitalists in a slave-state has fully developed itself, it has desolated God's fair world in the same way as rivers glisten in different colours, but a common sewer everywhere looks like itself, so the Italy of the Ciceronian epoch resembles substantially the Hellas of Polybius and still more decidedly the Carthage of Hannibal's time, where in exactly similar fashion the all-powerful rule of capital ruined the middle class, raised trade and estate-farming to the highest prosperity, and ultimately led to a— hypocritically whitewashed—moral and political corruption of the nation. All the arrant sins that capital has been guilty of against nation and civilization in the modern world, remain as far inferior to the abominations of the ancient capitalist-states as the free man, be he ever so poor, remains superior to the slave; and not until the dragon-seed of North America ripens, will the world have again similar fruits to reap.
    Theodor Mommsen
  • What is the world that lies around our own ? Shadowy, unsubstantial, and wonderful are the viewless elements, peopled with spirits powerful and viewless as the air which is their home. From the earth's earliest hour, the belief in the supernatural has been universal. At first the faith was full of poetry ; for, in those days, the imagination walked the earth even as did the angels, shedding their glory around the children of men. The Chaldeans watched from their lofty towers the silent beauty of night — they saw the stars go forth on their appointed way, and deemed that they bore with them the mighty records of eternity. Each separate planet shone on some mortal birth, and as its aspect was for good or for evil, such was the aspect of the fortunes that began beneath its light. Those giant watch-towers, with their grey sages, asked of the midnight its mystery, and held its starry roll to be the chronicle of this breathing world. Time past on, angels visited the earth no more, and the divine beliefs of young imagination grew earthlier. Yet poetry lingered in the mournful murmur of the oaks of Dodona, and in the fierce war song of the flying vultures, of whom the Romans demanded tidings of conquest. But prophecy gradually sank into divination, and it is a singular proof of the extent both of human credulity and of curiosity, to note the various methods that have had the credit of forestalling the future. From the stars to a tea-cup is a fall indeed —
    Letitia Elizabeth Landon
  • A man who does not know what has been thought by those who have gone before him is sure to set an undue value upon his own ideas—ideas which have perhaps been tried and found wanting. As accumulated learning stifles the mental powers, so original thinking has been known to bring about a puffy, unsubstantial mental condition.
    Mark Pattison

Related words: unsubstantial evidence, unsubstantial ideas, unsubstantial report, unsubstantial meaning, unsubstantial reasoning, unsubstantial theory, unsubstantial evidence meaning

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