Definition of "unsubstantiate"
unsubstantiate
verb
third-person singular simple present unsubstantiates, present participle unsubstantiating, simple past and past participle unsubstantiated
To prove false; to disprove or discredit.
Quotations
With this evidence, in addition to the findings of previous research, showing conclusively that it is not the pattern of courses followed by the student in the high school but his scholastic aptitude which determines his success in the college program, only one additional type of evidence is needed to completely unsubstantiate the reverence of colleges for entrance prescriptions.
1938, William Lawrence Wrinkle, The New High School in the Making, page 306
Confirming rules substantiate or unsubstantiate the presumption diagnosis and therefore are not unavoidable.
1990, Acta Oto-laryngologica - Volume 110, page 162
R A Fisher had the knack for making statements about theoretical conclusions without bothering to give any supporting proof and it befell the lot of lesser mortals to substantiate (and occasionally to unsubstantiate) these statements.
1991, Calcutta Statistical Association Bulletin - Volume 40, page 7
The purpose of an investigation is to substantiate or unsubstantiate the reported need for protective services.
2002, Pennsylvania. Dept. of Aging, Annual Report, page 12
(human services) To officially categorize (an allegation) as unsubstantiated.
Quotations
To call into question; to create doubt about.
Quotations
You bring down the high economy of heaven to the standard of human convenience. You pull the fabric of God's moral government to pieces; and unsubstantiate all the solemnity of His proclaimed sayings—all the lofty annunciations of the law, and of the prophets—all that is told of the mighty apparatus of the day of judgment—all that revelation points to, or conscience can suggest, of a living and a reigning God, who will not let Himself down to be affronted or trampled upon by the creatures whom He has formed.
1855, Thomas Chalmers, Sermons: Select Works - Volume 4, page 209
My purpose in dealing with these images is to attempt to unsubstantiate any attached conception and preconception of the image, especially the stereotypes of interpretation.
1995, Art Now Gallery Guide: International - Volume 15, Issues 1-2, page 327
To make insubstantial or abstract; unsubstantialize.
Quotations
Shakespeare's tendency to generalise, spiritualise and unsubstantiate was as great as his capacity to particularise and substantiate.
1961, James Blair Leishman, Themes and variations in Shakespeare's sonnets, page 112
To the Homo neuroticus, in whom fear of death and the death wish are equally balanced, old age is odious because it reminds him of the reality of death he is always trying to unsubstantiate into an intellectual game.
1969, Kathleen Szasz, Petishism: Pets and Their People in the Western World, page 46
adjective
comparative more unsubstantiate, superlative most unsubstantiate
Lacking substance; insubstantial.
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