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# substance

«substance» in Mova's school dictionary: **A material or kind of matter with particular qualities…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a substance, substances; also uncountable for "importance/meaning")

### meaning for a pupil

1) A material or kind of matter with particular qualities, like a sticky substance, or a chemical substance such as water, salt or iron. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#m1)

2) The most important part or real meaning of something: the substance of the story. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#m2)

3) Something solid and real, not just talk: there was no substance to the rumour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, a substance is any kind of matter: solids, liquids and gases are all substances. A pure substance has only one kind of material; a mixture has two or more. Chemical reactions make new substances. In safety, harmful substances such as cleaning products, medicines and chemicals must not be touched, smelled closely or tasted; look for warning symbols and tell an adult. In English, the substance of an essay is its main ideas. Phrases: "a sticky substance", "harmful substances", "a pure substance", "of substance", "substance abuse".

### examples

- Water is a substance that can be a solid, a liquid or a gas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x1)
- A strange green substance oozed out of the tube. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x2)
- Never taste an unknown substance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x3)
- Cleaning products contain harmful substances. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x4)
- Salt and sugar are both white substances, but they taste different. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x5)
- Mixing two substances can make a new substance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x6)
- The teacher said my essay had good substance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x7)
- There was no substance to the rumour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x8)
- The spade struck against a hard substance; it was a stone, that shone dazzling white. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/#x9)

### note

Countable for kinds of material ("two substances"). Spelling: sub-stance. Adjective: substantial (large or important). If someone swallows an unknown substance, tell an adult and call poison control or emergency services straight away; do not try to make them sick.

### In the corpora

- [Green snot does not always mean bacteria: the colour comes from a substance in white blood cells fighting germs.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/364-the-body-s-rough-side-burps-farts-snot-sneezes-hiccups-and-poo/9/)
- [An element is a substance made of only one kind of atom: gold is only gold atoms, oxygen only oxygen atoms.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/2-elements-and-the-periodic-table/0/)
- [Think of the elements as the letters of an alphabet: about a hundred letters spell out every substance in the world.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/2-elements-and-the-periodic-table/4/)
- [When atoms change partners, a new substance appears, which is what happens when a nail slowly rusts in water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/3-molecules-when-atoms-join-up/3/)
- [Toast turns brown because sugars and proteins react into new substances; burnt toast is black because it has partly turned into carbon.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/9-changes-you-can-and-cannot-undo/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «substance» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/substance/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.