What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Substance vs Appearance - What's the difference?

substance | appearance |

As nouns the difference between substance and appearance

is that substance is physical matter; material while appearance is the act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.

substance

Alternative forms

* substaunce (archaic)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Physical matter; material.
  • * 1699 , , 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances , which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}
  • The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance , not the appearance, chose.
  • * Bishop Burnet
  • This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
  • * (Edmund Burke) (1729-1797)
  • It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.
  • Substantiality; solidity; firmness.
  • Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
  • * Bible, (w) xv. 13
  • And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Thy substance , valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.
  • * (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance , but not for our own interest.
  • Drugs (illegal narcotics)
  • (theology) Hypostasis.
  • See also

    * style 1000 English basic words ----

    appearance

    English

    Alternative forms

    * appearaunce

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.
  • A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.
  • Personal presence; look; aspect; mien.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • And now am come to see . . . It thy appearance answer loud report.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite.
  • Apparent likeness; external show; how something appears to others.
  • * Bible, (w) ix. 15
  • There was upon the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire.
  • * Bible, 1 (w) xvi. 7
  • For man looketh on the outward appearance .
  • * Bible, (w) vii. 24
  • Judge not according to the appearance .
  • The act of appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Will he now retire, After appearance , and again prolong Our expectation?
  • (legal) The coming into court of either of the parties; the being present in court; the coming into court of a party summoned in an action, either by himself or by his attorney, expressed by a formal entry by the proper officer to that effect; the act or proceeding by which a party proceeded against places himself before the court, and submits to its jurisdiction.
  • (medical) Chiefly used by nurses: the act of defecation by a patient.
  • Synonyms

    * (act of coming into sight) arrival, manifestation, * (a thing seen) spectacle, apparition, phenomenon, presence * (aspect of a person) aspect, air, figure, look, manner, mien * (outward show) semblance, show, pretense, or facade * (act of appearing in public) debut

    Derived terms

    () * court appearance * disappearance * keep up appearances * nonappearance * plate appearance * put in an appearance * reappearance * save appearances

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *