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hy·pos·ta·sis (hī-pŏstə-sĭs)
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n. pl. hy·pos·ta·ses (-sēz)
1. Philosophy The substance, essence, or underlying reality.
2. Christianity
a. Any of the persons of the Trinity.
b. The essential person of Jesus in which his human and divine natures are united.
3. Something that has been hypostatized.
4.
a. A settling of solid particles in a fluid.
b. Something that settles to the bottom of a fluid; sediment.
5. Medicine The settling of blood in the lower part of an organ or the body as a result of decreased blood flow.
6. Genetics A condition in which the action of one gene is concealed or suppressed by the action of an allele of a different gene that affects the same part or biochemical process in an organism.

[Late Latin, from Greek hupostasis : hupo-, hypo- + stasis, a standing; see stā- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

hypo·static (hīpə-stătĭk), hypo·stati·cal adj.
hypo·stati·cal·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.