a singular essence (ousia) subsisting in its independent being, numerically one, separate from others by its accidents

(Plural: hypostases.) Greek word meaning subsistence or individualized manifestation, and usually translated as "person." According to the doctrine of the trinity, God exists as three hypostases. According to traditional Christology, Jesus Christ has two natures but is only one hypostasis. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son is the express image of God's hypostasis, not a second hypostasis.

A technical theological term for "person" or something which has an individual existence. The word is used to describe the three Persons of the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hypostasis is also used to describe the one Person of Christ, who is both truly divine and truly human.

Greek for "substance," the term used to describe the unity of the person of Jesus Christ in early Christological debate while accepting his two natures, divine and human (see Christology).

(as defined here, in the Plotinian sense) underlying Divine or Absolute Reality, the Truth or Foundation or Essence or Support or Cause of a thing more

an underlying substance, as opposed to an attribute or that which is insubstantial

The word hypostasis means underlying state or underlying substance. It is the fundamental reality that supports all else. Neoplatonists argue that behind the surface phenomena that present themselves to our senses are three higher spiritual principles or hypostases, each one more sublime than the preceding.

In linguistics, a hypostasis, from the Greek word ὑπόστασις http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23109195 meaning foundation, base or that which stands behind is a relationship between a name and a known quantity, as a cultural personification (i.e. objectification with personality) of an entity or quality. It often connotes the personification of typically elemental powers, such as wind and fire, or human life, fertility, and death.

In Christian usage, the Greek word hypostasis , the range of whose meanings is illustrated in http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=%23109195 Liddel and Scott's Greek Lexicon, has a complicated and sometimes confusing history. Its basic meaning is "that which stands beneath". It was used by, for instance, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists, to speak of the objective reality (as opposed to outer form or illusion) of a thing, its inner reality.