different between purport vs substance

English

Etymology

From Middle English purporten, from Anglo-Norman purporter and Old French porporter (“convey, contain, carry”), from pur-, from Latin pro (“forth”) + Old French porter (“carry”), from Latin port? (“carry”).

Pronunciation

• (verb, UK) IPA^(key): /p??p??t/
• (verb, US) IPA^(key): /p??p??t/
• (noun, UK) IPA^(key): /?p??p??t/, /?p??p?t/
• (noun, US) IPA^(key): /?p?p??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Verb

purport (third-person singular simple present purports, present participle purporting, simple past and past participle purported)

1. To convey, imply, or profess (often falsely or inaccurately).
2. (construed with to) To intend.

Translations

Noun

purport (plural purports)

1. import, intention or purpose
   • 1748, David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

     My practice, you say, refutes my doubts. But you mistake the purport of my question.

   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 4, chapter I, Aristocracies

     Sorrowful, phantasmal as this same Double Aristocracy of Teachers and Governors now looks, it is worth all men’s while to know that the purport of it is, and remains, noble and most real.

   • 1939, Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby

     A child’s brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult’s act, and figuring out its purport.

2. (obsolete) disguise; covering

Translations

References

• “purport”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• prorupt

English

Alternative forms

• substaunce (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English substance, from Old French substance, from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from subst?ns, present active participle of subst? (“exist”, literally “stand under”), from sub + st? (“stand”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?s?bst?ns/, [?s?bst?nts]

Noun

substance (countable and uncountable, plural substances)

1. Physical matter; material.
   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

     Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

   Synonyms: matter, stuff

2. The essential part of anything; the most vital part.

   • Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.

   • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth

     This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.

   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.

   Synonyms: crux, gist

3. Substantiality; solidity; firmness.

4. Material possessions; estate; property; resources.

   • And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
5. A form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties.
6. Drugs (illegal narcotics)

   Synonyms: dope, gear

7. (theology) Hypostasis.

Synonyms

• (physical matter): See also Thesaurus:substance
• (essential part of anything): See also Thesaurus:gist
• (drugs): See also Thesaurus:recreational drug

Related terms

Translations

Verb

substance (third-person singular simple present substances, present participle substancing, simple past and past participle substanced)

1. (rare, transitive) To give substance to; to make real or substantial.

See also

• style

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from subst?ns, present active participle of subst? (“exist”, literally “stand under”), from sub + st? (“stand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syp.st??s/
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

substance f (plural substances)

1. substance

Derived terms

Further reading

• “substance” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• cubassent

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French substance.

Noun

substance

1. essence

Descendants

• English: substance

Old French

Alternative forms

• sostance, sustance

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin substantia.

Noun

substance f (oblique plural substances, nominative singular substance, nominative plural substances)

1. most essential; substantial part
2. existence

Related terms

• substantiel

Descendants