unsubstantiate means lacking substance; insubstantial. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Etymology
From un- + substantiate.
adj
- Lacking substance; insubstantial.“He thought of his parents and Mary with the tenderness of separation, and felt ashamed because he had neglected his mother's letter for this unknown, unsubstantiate Martha's.”
- Unsubstantiated; unproven.“This, however, was a case where the defendant (described in the file as a possible “fly-by-nighter”) made a quite unsubstantiate claim for the goods he was selling.”
verb
- To prove false; to disprove or discredit.“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.”
- To officially categorize (an allegation) as unsubstantiated.“Stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to determine whether or not there was a relationship between specified factors and the decision to substantiate or unsubstantiate sexual abuse cases.”
- To call into question; to create doubt about.“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 ”
- To make insubstantial or abstract; unsubstantialize.“Shakespeare's tendency to generalise, spiritualise and unsubstantiate was as great as his capacity to particularise and substantiate.”