substrate
noun
Did you know?
With its Latin prefix sub-, "below", substrate obviously refers to a layer under something else. Rock may serve as the substrate for the coral in a coral reef. Tiny wafers of silicon (or another semiconductor) serve as the substrate for computer chips. Substrate may also mean subsoil—that is, the layer under the topsoil, lacking in organic matter or humus. Substrate is part of the vocabulary of various other sciences, including chemistry and biology. But although it's mostly a scientific term, writers may also use it to mean simply "foundation"—for instance, when observing that reading is the substrate on which most other learning is based.
Examples of substrate in a Sentence
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 23 Oct. 2025
The first liquid crystal display substrate that makes all of the flat panel displays that you’re used to seeing, the first low loss optical fiber, the ceramic substrates that clean the air of your emissions from your vehicles, the pharmaceutical packaging that made your COVID shot possible.
—Fortune Editors, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025
That means most of it is generated near the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
—IEEE Spectrum, 20 Oct. 2025
According to the researchers, the technology alternates silver ions and trithioisocyanuric acid (TCA) layers on an electrode substrate.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for substrate
Cite this Entry
“Substrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/substrate. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
substrate
noun
Medical Definition
substrate
noun
Share