Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not firm or solid; weak or flimsy.
- adjective Very small or negligible, as in importance, size, or amount.
- adjective Lacking or appearing to lack substance or reality.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Unsubstantial.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective rare, rare Unsubstantial; not real or strong.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Lacking
substance ; notreal orstrong .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking material form or substance; unreal
- adjective lacking in nutritive value
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Is it possible that the fashion industry, long patronized as a realm of the ephemeral and insubstantial, is the real bellwether for future ideas of “ownership” of creative content?
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Is it possible that the fashion industry, long patronized as a realm of the ephemeral and insubstantial, is the real bellwether for future ideas of “ownership” of creative content?
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Both start with an idea, something insubstantial, that is transformed into an artifact that can influence the world and other people.
Archive 2010-01-01 Molly Daniels 2010
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Both start with an idea, something insubstantial, that is transformed into an artifact that can influence the world and other people.
Terrific Tuesdays with...Lisabet Sarai! Molly Daniels 2010
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That just won't work, particularly when the Democrats aren't very good at battling the Republicans in close combat and the Republicans can make those who stay above the fray seem lightweight and insubstantial, which is what they've managed to do.
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The goal for Honda should be to reclaim a place on Consumer Reports' "recommended" list - CR called the new Civic "cheap" and "insubstantial" - and to answer critics who have called the car a "betrayal," as Dan Neil did in The Wall Street Journal.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed JEREMY CATO 2011
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Cameron's documentary Aliens of the Deep was visually FANTASTIC if kind of insubstantial as a documentary, and yes, it was absolutely improved by 3D.
Even Roger Ebert Doesn't Like 3D - Take That Hollywood! « FirstShowing.net 2008
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And I don't even know why someone would use 'insubstantial' in this context.
Counterintuition 2005
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And I don't even know why someone would use 'insubstantial' in this context.
Archive 2005-01-01 2005
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The commercial broadcaster was deluged with complaints and fans bombarded internet messageboards, many of them criticising presenter Adrian Chiles for his "insubstantial" apology.
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2010
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