What does “substantial” mean?
- 1
adjectivelarge in amount, size or importance
The company made a substantial profit last year.
- 2
adjectivestrongly built or solid
The old house had substantial stone walls.
Substantial at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- B2 (upper intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /səbˈstænʃəl/ · sub-STAN-shul
How to use “substantial” correctly
A useful academic alternative to “big” or “a lot of”, especially for amounts, changes and evidence.
Common phrases with “substantial”
- a substantial amount
- substantial evidence
- substantial increase
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Synonyms (similar meaning)
- considerable
- significant
- sizable
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
- small
- insignificant
Word family
- substantially
- substance
“substantial” is on these word lists
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