UNSUBSTANTIAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unsubstantial mean? 

• UNSUBSTANTIAL (adjective)
  The adjective UNSUBSTANTIAL has 1 sense:

1. lacking material form or substance; unreal

  Familiarity information: UNSUBSTANTIAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNSUBSTANTIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking material form or substance; unreal

Synonyms:

insubstantial; unreal; unsubstantial

Context example:

an insubstantial mirage on the horizon

Similar:

aerial; aeriform; aery; airy; ethereal (characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air)

shadowy; wraithlike (lacking in substance)

hollow (lacking in substance or character)

stringy (consisting of or containing string or strings)

Also:

immaterial; nonmaterial (not consisting of matter)

Attribute:

solidness; substantiality; substantialness (the quality of being substantial or having substance)

Derivation:

unsubstantialize (render immaterial or incorporeal)

 Context examples 

For these reasons I was sorry to go; but for other reasons, unsubstantial enough, I was glad.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She was living in bad society, and imaginary though it was, its influence affected her, for she was feeding heart and fancy on dangerous and unsubstantial food, and was fast brushing the innocent bloom from her nature by a premature acquaintance with the darker side of life, which comes soon enough to all of us.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)