hypostasis. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

hypostasis

SYLLABICATION:	hy·pos·ta·sis
PRONUNCIATION:	h-pst-ss
NOUN:	Inflected forms: pl. hy·pos·ta·ses (-sz) 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. 4a. 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 conceals or suppresses the action of another gene that is not its allele but that affects the same part or biochemical process in an organism.
ETYMOLOGY:	Late Latin, from Greek hupostasis : hupo-, hypo- + stasis, a standing; see st- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	hypo·static (hp-sttk) , hypo·stati·cal —ADJECTIVE hypo·stati·cal·ly —ADVERB


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.