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
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
These spike trains often appear when fungi interact with their environment, such as encountering wood or other substrates.—👁 Image Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 30 Mar. 2026 The preferred substrate of the lion’s mane mushroom is large old beech or oak trees—although it has also been found growing on other hardwood trees, such as maple and ash, and on younger trees as well as on stout logs and stumps of dead wood.—👁 Image Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Mar. 2026 His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage in the brain and a few other topics.—👁 Image Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026 Roll-to-roll coating methods are preferred in industry because the coatings are applied continuously to large rolls of a substrate material, such as paper or other biodegradable plastics.—👁 Image J. Carson Meredith, The Conversation, 17 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for substrate
