What does substantive mean?
Word: Substantive
Part of Speech: Adjective; noun
Meaning: Substantive means real, important and dealing with the main matter rather than small details. In older grammar books a substantive is a noun.
Synonyms: significant, real, meaningful
Antonyms: minor
How do you spell substantive?
Syllables: sub - stan - tive
Tricky part: The middle is stan, not sten: students write substentive.
Watch out for: substentive, substantiative, substantave
Memory tip: A substantive issue has substance: the word begins with the same letters as substance, up to the n.
Substantive in a sentence
Example 1: The two ministers held substantive talks on sharing river water.
Example 2: Our project report needs more substantive evidence and fewer pictures.
Example 3: In the old grammar book, every noun was called a substantive.
Fun Fact
In Lok Sabha rules, a substantive motion is a complete, independent proposal put to the House for its decision; an amendment only changes a motion already moved.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word 'substantive' as used in the sentence:
After weeks of small talk, the staff meeting finally turned to substantive matters such as the exam timetable.
a) urgent
b) official
c) private
d) trivial
Show answer
d) trivial. Substantive matters are the real, important ones; trivial matters are small and unimportant.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
substantieve
a) n
b) i
c) e
d) v
Show answer
c) e. The word ends in tive, as in native, with no e before the v.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
The new rules made no ntitsbuvsae change to how the canteen is run.
a) substantive
b) substantial
c) subjective
d) substitute
Show answer
a) substantive. Substantial needs an l, substitute an extra t and a u, and subjective a j and a c, none of them in the jumble.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the correctly spelt word:
1. signifficant 2. substantive 3. essencial 4. relavant
a) important or large enough to notice
b) absolutely necessary
c) concerned with what truly matters
d) closely connected to the subject
Show answer
c) concerned with what truly matters. Significant has one f, relevant has an e after the l, and essential is spelt with ti.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these would be a substantive change to a school rule?
a) printing the rules on blue paper
b) moving the exams from March to January
c) changing the font of the rule book
d) fixing a comma in the notice
Show answer
b) moving the exams from March to January
2. A substantive reason for missing school is ____.
a) one that nobody asked for
b) a reason given too late
c) one that genuinely matters
d) a made-up excuse
Show answer
c) one that genuinely matters
