(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a solid, powder, liquid, or gas with particular properties.
There’s absolutely no regulation of cigarettes to make sure that they don’t include poisonous ~s...
The ~ that’s causing the problem comes from the barley.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
2.
Substance is the quality of being important or significant. (FORMAL)
It’s questionable whether anything of ~ has been achieved...
Syria will attend only if the negotiations deal with issues of ~.
N-UNCOUNT: oft with brd-neg
3.
The ~ of what someone says or writes is the main thing that they are trying to say.
The ~ of his discussions doesn’t really matter.
N-SING: the N of n
4.
If you say that something has no ~, you mean that it is not true. (FORMAL)
There is no ~ in any of these allegations.
= truth
N-UNCOUNT