substantiate

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin substantiatus (“given substance”), from the verb substantiare, first used 1657.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səbˈstænʃieɪt/, /səbˈstanʃɪeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /səbˈstænʃiˌeɪt/, [səbˈstɛənʃiˌeɪt]
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /səbˈstænʃiæɪt/
• Hyphenation: sub‧stan‧ti‧ate

Verb

substantiate (third-person singular simple present substantiates, present participle substantiating, simple past and past participle substantiated)

1. (transitive) To verify something by supplying evidence; to authenticate or corroborate.

   Synonym: vouch

   substantiate allegations

   substantiate a claim

   The lawyer was asked to substantiate her claims.

   He could not substantiate the rumors with evidence.

   • 1957 December, H. R. Stones, “The Hellingly Hospital Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 871:

     However, as the hospital equipment was installed by German firms, it is thought probable that the locomotive came from the same source, and this theory is substantiated by the fact that the control mechanism is of German manufacture.

2. (transitive) To give material form or substance to something; to embody; to record in documents

Derived terms

• consubstantiate
• insubstantiated
• substantiator
• supersubstantiate
• unsubstantiate
• unsubstantiated

Translations

to authenticate or corroborate

• Bulgarian: потвърждавам (bg) (potvărždavam)
• Danish: belægge
• Dutch: onderbouwen (nl)
• Estonian: tõendama
• Finnish: todistaa (fi), tukea (fi), vahvistaa (fi), todentaa (fi), osoittaa (fi)
• German: beglaubigen (de), bestätigen (de), substantiieren (de), untermauern (de)
• Hungarian: igazol (hu), bizonyít (hu), megalapoz (hu), megerősít (hu)
• Italian: dimostrare (it)
• Lithuanian: grįsti, pagrįsti
• Māori: whakatūturu
• Polish: popierać (pl) impf, poprzeć (pl) pf
• Spanish: confirmar (es), corroborar (es), autenticar (es), verificar (es), evidenciar (es), autentificar (es), fundamentar (es)
• Turkish: doğrulamak (tr), tasdik etmek (tr), tahakkuk etmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: củng cố (vi)

to record in documents

• German: bekräftigen (de), verwirklichen (de)
• Greek: τεκμηριώνω (el) (tekmirióno)
• Italian: documentare (it)
• Russian: засвидетельствовать (ru) (zasvidetelʹstvovatʹ)
• Spanish: substanciar (es), sustanciar (es)
• Turkish: gerçekleşmek (tr), gerçekleştirmek (tr)