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View synonyms for sum and substance
sum and substance
noun
- main idea, gist, or point:
the sum and substance of an argument.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sum and substance1
First recorded in 1585–95
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Idioms and Phrases
The essence or gist of something, as in The sum and substance of their platform is financial conservatism . This redundant expression—both sum and substance here mean “essence”—has probably survived owing to alliteration. Shakespeare used it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (4:1): “My riches are these poor habiliments [clothes], Of which if you should here disfurnish me, You take the sum and substance that I have.”Advertisement
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Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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