How to Use insubstantial in a Sentence

insubstantial

adjective
  • Their contribution to the fund was insubstantial.
  • Just a few years ago, such wines were panned as insubstantial.
    — Bruce Schoenfeld, Saveur, 2 Sep. 2015
  • The wall was as insubstantial as a set on a film studio’s back lot.
    — Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
  • But the wilder the charges, the more insubstantial the case appeared.
    — Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Some of them are as insubstantial as smoke, but others may be worth thinking about.
    — oregonlive, 1 Apr. 2020
  • And how do post offices safely deal with such insubstantial ephemera?
    — Sue Wunder, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 May 2018
  • Scholze was bemused by the long theorems with their short proofs, which struck him as valid but insubstantial.
    — Quanta Magazine, 20 Sep. 2018
  • Even with her strong work, the film around her always feels, at best, insubstantial, and, at worst, incomplete.
    — Chase Hutchinson, IndieWire, 19 Mar. 2026
  • The drought made the already insubstantial dirt weak and powdery, and the piers of the shotgun houses sank into the earth.
    — Southern Living, 2 Sep. 2014
  • The drought made the already insubstantial dirt weak and powdery, and the piers of the shotgun houses sank into the earth.
    — Rick Bragg, Southern Living, 11 July 2017
  • That's less than half the number of Democrats in the county, but hardly an insubstantial number.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 20 July 2017
  • And shoppers have to be persuaded to take a not-insubstantial risk, largely on the strength of online reviews alone.
    — Katherine Dunn, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2022
  • The low-rise structure might look insubstantial next to the bulkier, mid-rise buildings that now edge the square between the big three skyscrapers.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 4 July 2021
  • Given their size, the controllers are surprisingly light, to the point of feeling a bit insubstantial in your hand.
    — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Where Aytaç was large but poised, Abdi was insubstantial, scrawny, and unsteady on his feet.
    — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The investment Flex is making to achieve these targets is not insubstantial.
    — Patrick Moorhead, Forbes, 7 May 2021
  • In central Illinois, many of those roads are paved with tar and chips or what appears to be a rather thin and insubstantial layer of asphalt.
    — Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica, 12 July 2018
  • Most of the changes the ordinance makes to elections code are insubstantial and help streamline the processes and update language.
    — Emily Goodykoontz, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Jan. 2021
  • Scarlet’s good intentions to end wars by way of sheer determination to do what’s right might prove insubstantial in practice.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
  • But while the crimes may feel insubstantial, the stakes for American democracy are far weightier.
    — Tessa Berenson Rogers, TIME, 30 May 2024
  • In the years since, the original game’s update schedule slowed to a crawl, and additions grew insubstantial, leading many players to burn out or move on.
    — Washington Post, 29 Apr. 2022
  • So far the new model feels insubstantial — casually diverting, full of shiny, pretty people, but short on chemistry where we are meant most to find it.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2021
  • Breakfast Burrito Post-ride hunger is a beautiful thing not to be wasted on insubstantial meals.
    — The Editors, Outside Online, 4 May 2018
  • Sarah Sze suspended snapshots of the New York sky on wires, forming an immense yet insubstantial orb.
    — Curbed, 11 Feb. 2022
  • For all the pomp and skilful choreography, however, the results of the summit were insubstantial.
    — The Economist, 27 Apr. 2018
  • And Dalla Porta can’t build a flesh-and-blood character out of a woman who seems as billowy and insubstantial as the movie that bears her name.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 May 2024
  • That means that the real actors' fake domestic lives all feel insubstantial and barely sketched and, again, that's perhaps intentional.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Aug. 2019
  • UMass officials say the institutes are a $5 million drain on the school’s budget, which is not an insubstantial number.
    — Adrian Walker, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Never rushed, his pacing keeps the energy up; never insubstantial in texture, the playing maintains a fizzy lightness.
    — Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018
  • Artisanal beers are made to be enjoyed on their own, accompanied by nothing more than a bar-top snack or two to complement them — something salty and crunchy and insubstantial.
    — Paul Hodgins, latimes.com, 6 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'insubstantial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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