Other forms: substantiated, substantiating, substantiates
To substantiate a claim is to back it with evidence. The allegations were never substantiated. Can you substantiate that?
It is a formal word and it belongs to law, journalism and academic writing. The most common form by far is the negative: unsubstantiated claims, unsubstantiated allegations, which is the standard way of saying something has been said and not shown. Note the difference from prove: substantiating means providing support, which may still fall short of proof. Compare corroborate, which means to support with a second independent account, and verify, which means to check against a source.
1verbsubstantiateTo support a claim with evidence.
“None of it could be substantiated.”
synonyms: support, corroborate, back up
substantiate is a way of supporting a claim.
Medieval Latin substantiare meant to give substance to, from substantia — literally what stands underneath. To substantiate a claim is to put something solid under it, which is a very exact metaphor for what evidence does.
Medieval Latin
substantiatus — given substance
English, today
substantiate
From Medieval Latin substantiatus (“given substance”), from the verb substantiare, first used 1657.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA