substantive
Other forms: substantives; substantively
When you talk about substantive change, you mean change that really makes a difference. After a substantive discussion, you will have an in-depth understanding of what you are talking about.
When something is substantive, there is a lot of "there there," be it meaning or volume of things. The word brings a serious tone. While it is often used to talk about problems and their solutions, a big steak dinner could be called substantive, as could a very long piece of writing. In any case, you use it when there is a lot of substance involved.
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having a firm basis in reality and being therefore important, meaningful, or considerablesynonyms: substantialessentialbasic and fundamental
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being on topic and prompting thoughtsynonyms: meatymeaningfulhaving a meaning or purpose
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defining rights and duties as opposed to giving the rules by which rights and duties are established
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any word or group of words functioning as a nountypes:nouna content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or actioncollective nouna noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or thingsmass nouna noun that does not form pluralscount nouna noun that forms pluralsgeneric nouna noun that does not specify either masculine or feminine gendercommon nouna noun that denotes any or all members of a classappositivea noun or noun phrase that is in appositiontype of:worda unit of language that native speakers can identify
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Vocabulary lists containing substantive
Bryan Stevenson details his experiences as a defense attorney, focusing on the case of Walter McMillian, who insisted on his innocence even after he was sentenced to the death penalty. This book provides an eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at how the criminal justice system works — or doesn't.
Considered an important part of American democracy, this act was first signed into law in 1966, but it has since undergone many amendments in the conflicts over how much access the public should have to the documents and records of federal agencies. Read the full text here.
In this family saga, three generations of South Asian women adapt in different ways to life in America.