Dictionary

material en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/ (Canada, General-American)
• (California) audio

Etymology

From Middle English material, from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”). Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)). Doublet of materiel.

Meanings

1. Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
   • the material elements of the universe 1913, Alfred Bowyer Sharpe, Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Evil:
   • This compound has a number of interesting material properties.
2. Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily.
   • material needs
3. Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical.
   • material cause
   • the material aspect of being
4. (especially) Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial.
   • You've made several material contributions to this project.
   • This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.
   • discourse, which was always material, not trifling 1685 March 19 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 10 March 1685]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:
   • found a material difference between two things
   • I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose. 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 3:
5. Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic.
   • 'Cause we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl / You know that we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl 1984, Peter Brown and Robert Rans, “Material Girl”, in Like a Virgin, performed by Madonna:
   • the material world
   • interested only in material progress
   • Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.
6. (obsolete) Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
7. (obsolete) In an important degree.

Forms

Antonyms

spiritual · immaterial

Deriveds

unmaterial (Terms derived from material (adjective)) · material nonimplication (Terms derived from material (adjective)) · material cause (Terms derived from material (adjective)) · material breach (Terms derived from material (adjective))

Synonyms

meaty · solid · bulky · massive

Translations (82)

bg съществен (significant) · vo stöfik (related to matter) · sv materiell (related to matter) · ca material (worldly) · es material (related to matter) · nl materieel (worldly) · pt material (worldly) · la corporeus (related to matter) · bg веществен (related to matter) · io materiala (related to matter) · eo materia (related to matter) · nl materiële (worldly) · gl significativo (significant) · no materiell (related to matter) · hu anyagi (related to matter) · mk материја́лен (related to matter) · pt material (related to matter) · el καίριος (significant) · fi materiaalinen (worldly) · ar مَادِّيّ (related to matter) · hy նյութական (related to matter) · nl wereldlijke (worldly) · grc ὑλικός (related to matter) · da materiel (worldly) · nl materiële (related to matter) · fr matériel (worldly) · ru мате́риа́льный (related to matter) · sv materiell (worldly) · hu anyagi (worldly) · nl materieel (related to matter) · fi maallinen (worldly) · pl materialny (related to matter) · pt significativo (significant) · fa مادی (worldly) · fi merkittävä (significant) · cs materiálový (related to matter) · ga ábhartha (worldly) · enm material (worldly) · enm bestial (related to matter) · cs hmotný (worldly) · ru ва́жный (significant) · ar مَادِّيّ (worldly) · gl material (worldly) · fi materiaalinen (related to matter) · hy կարեւոր (significant) · da materiel (related to matter) · pt terreno (worldly) · de materiell (related to matter) · enm beestly (related to matter) · gl material (related to matter) · it materiale (worldly) · ga ábhartha (related to matter) · hu materiális (worldly) · mi ōkiko (related to matter) · hy նյութական (worldly) · no materiell (worldly) · es significativo (significant) · pl materialny (worldly) · ro material (related to matter) · es material (worldly) · el υλικός (worldly) · ca material (related to matter) · enm material (related to matter) · bg важен (significant) · nl wereldlijk (worldly) · be матэрыя́льны (related to matter) · sv världslig (worldly) · it materiale (related to matter) · fi aineellinen (related to matter) · cs materiální (worldly) · de materiell (worldly) · ru мате́риа́льный (worldly) · hy էական (significant) · fi olennainen (significant) · el υλικός (related to matter) · ga ábhartha (significant) · bg материален (related to matter) · bg светски (worldly) · sv compounds with materia c and material (related to matter) · el ουσιώδης (significant) · ro material (worldly) · uk матеріа́льний (related to matter)

material en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/ (Canada, General-American)
• (California) audio

Etymology

From Middle English material, from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”). Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)). Doublet of materiel.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A basic matter (as metal, wood, plastic, fiber, etc.) from which the whole or the greater part of something physical (as a machine, tool, building, fabric, etc.) is made.
   • Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.) 2012 March 14, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128:
   • Asphalt, composed of oil and sand, is a widely used material for roads.
   • In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally. For all reverbation lasts for a short time, and produces new sounds which mix with those which are coming in. 1820, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 6th edition, volume 20, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, page 501:
2. (collective, countable, qualifier:preceded by a qualifying word, sometimes, uncountable) A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity.
   • Before she married her husband, Kiersten Little considered him ideal father material. 2021 November 20, Alex Williams, “To Breed or Not to Breed?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • boy/girlfriend material
   • marriage material
   • We have lots of presidential material in various public offices.
3. (countable, plural, uncountable, usually) Apparatus for doing or making something.
   • Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
4. (countable, uncountable) Something (as data, observations, perceptions or ideas) that may be incorporated, elaborated or otherwise reworked into a finished form or new form, or may serve as the basis for arriving at interpretations, judgments or conclusions.
   • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…] 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
   • teaching materials
   • We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.
5. (countable, uncountable) Fabric, which can be made into a garments, curtains, etc; especially, woven fabric (cloth).
   • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship. 1977, Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 4:
   • You'll need about a yard of material to make this.
   • a piece of material
6. (countable, uncountable) The elements, constituents or substance of which something physical or non-physical composed of or can be made of.
   • The material of his character was basically good.
   • As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:
   • The solid materials of the mixture will settle to the bottom of the container.
   • […] I beleeve that as they ſay of the materialls of the world, they would ſoone diſolve if the ſoule of it were taken away […] 1642, Daniel Rogers […], Naaman the Syrian, his Disease and Cvre, London: Th. Harper for Philip Nevil, unnumbered page:
7. (countable, uncountable) An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
8. (countable, uncountable) All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard, excluding the king.
9. (Ireland, archaic, countable, uncountable) The ingredients for making whisky punch.
10. (countable, rare, uncountable) The materiel of an army.
11. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Things that are material.

Forms

Deriveds

materialise (Terms derived from material (noun)) · nonmaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · antimaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · sociomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · hazardous material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · composite material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · tissue equivalent material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · postmaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · postmaterialist (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material noun (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialisation (Terms derived from material (noun)) · micromaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · ecomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material handling (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materials science (Terms derived from material (noun)) · archaeomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material fact (Terms derived from material (noun)) · shawl material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialization (Terms derived from material (noun)) · child sexual abuse material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · genuine issue of material fact (Terms derived from material (noun)) · metamaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialize (Terms derived from material (noun)) · postmaterialism (Terms derived from material (noun)) · raw material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material support (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material action (Terms derived from material (noun)) · active material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · source material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · reading material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · collateral material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · biomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialist (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material heresy (Terms derived from material (noun)) · strategic material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · bomb material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material logic (Terms derived from material (noun)) · positive material identification (Terms derived from material (noun)) · supermaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material implication (Terms derived from material (noun)) · archeomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · building material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · geomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material science (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialness (Terms derived from material (noun)) · bill of material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · Voigt material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · nanomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materially (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material conditional (Terms derived from material (noun)) · hazmat (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material witness (Terms derived from material (noun)) · bimaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · trimaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · cryptomaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · genetic material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · material culture (Terms derived from material (noun)) · multimaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · materialism (Terms derived from material (noun)) · Kelvin-Voigt material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · non-material (Terms derived from material (noun)) · astromaterial (Terms derived from material (noun)) · time and material (Terms derived from material (noun))

Holonyms

artifact

Hyponyms

mortar · clay · concrete · cement · metal · chemical substance · plastic · glass · brick · paper · wood · fabric · adobe · stone · composite

Relateds

substantial · materiel · matter · for material's use as an adjective

Synonyms

material · appoint · matts · raw material

Translations (165)

fr étoffe (cloth) · ja 生地 (cloth) · fi materiaali (matter) · sv material (matter) · cs materiál (matter) · th วัสดุ (matter) · ja 物質 (matter) · tr malzeme (matter) · fr matière (matter) · ja 素材 (cloth) · fi aines (substance of which something composed of or can be made of) · fy materiaal (matter) · de Stoff (cloth) · es material (matter) · lb Material (text) · sv material (text) · tk material (matter) · hu anyag (cloth) · prs مَادَّه (matter) · grc ὕλη (matter) · tg материал (matter) · eo ŝtofo (cloth) · bg материа́л (matter) · cmn 布 (cloth) · pl materiał (matter) · izh materiala (text) · uk матеріа́л (matter) · he חֹמֶר (text) · nl materiaal (matter) · my ပစ္စည်း (matter) · id bahan (matter) · mn даавуу (cloth) · ru материа́л (sample or specimens for study) · ko 자료 (text) · fi aines (people suited for an activity) · fi aineisto (sample or specimens for study) · el υλικό (matter) · da materiale (matter) · izh materiala (sample or specimens for study) · fi aineisto (related data of various kinds collected as the basis for a document or book) · bg материа́л (sample or specimens for study) · pt material (matter) · ja 題材 (text) · ko 인재 (people suited for an activity) · no tøy (cloth) · ug ماتېرىيال (matter) · no stoff (cloth) · lv materiāls (matter) · ro pânză (cloth) · ca material (matter) · fr documentation (related data of various kinds collected as the basis for a document or book) · be матэрыя́л (matter) · ko 물질 (matter) · he חֹמֶר (matter) · is efni (matter) · nn materiale (matter) · nb stoff (text) · nl naaigoed (cloth) · ru мате́рия (cloth) · hu anyag (text) · ka მასალა (matter) · az material (matter) · lt medžiaga (matter) · gd adhbhar (matter) · cmn 材料 (matter) · nl stof (cloth) · ro materie (matter) · uz modda (matter) · fa-ira مَطْلَب (text) · vi vật chất (matter) · ro material (text) · gl material (matter) · ar مَادَّة (matter) · it materiale (matter) · hu anyag (matter) · ga mianach (matter) · fr tissu (cloth) · de Material (text) · fr matériel (sample or specimens for study) · sl material (matter) · sv material (cloth) · ru вещество́ (matter) · pt material (sample or specimens for study) · km សម្ភារៈ (matter) · ja 布 (cloth) · it materiale (sample or specimens for study) · el ύφασμα (cloth) · cmn 資料 /资料 (text) · cmn 面料 (cloth) · tl materyal (matter) · fi kangas (cloth) · bn উপাদান (matter) · fa-ira مادِّه (matter) · ja 人材 (people suited for an activity) · sq material (matter) · nl materiaal (text) · sk materiál (matter) · bg състав (substance of which something composed of or can be made of) · es menaje (text) · fr matériau (matter) · ms bahan (matter) · gd adhbhar (cloth) · io materio (matter) · pl materiał (cloth) · ro stofă (cloth) · sh materìjāl (matter) · fi aine (substance of which something composed of or can be made of) · bg материа́л (text) · da stof (text) · pt pano (cloth) · la verba scriptoris (text) · ro material (matter) · nl grondstof (matter) · pt matéria (substance of which something composed of or can be made of) · pt tecido (cloth) · az maddə (matter) · uz material (matter) · ro material (sample or specimens for study) · mk материја́л (matter) · ky материал (matter) · ja 材料 (matter) · de Rohstoff (matter) · it materiale (cloth) · pt matéria (text) · sh матерѝја̄л (matter) · kk материал (matter) · ga damhna (matter) · mi papanga (cloth) · da materiale (text) · fi aineisto (text) · cmn 物質 /物质 (matter) · mi matū (matter) · ja 資料 (text) · bg градеж (substance of which something composed of or can be made of) · fi raaka-aine (matter) · fr matériel (text) · tr madde (matter) · nb materiale (matter) · ru ткань (cloth) · sq lëndor (matter) · hy նյութ (matter) · af materiaal (matter) · mn материал (matter) · ru материа́л (matter) · he חומר (matter) · da stof (cloth) · et materjal (matter) · la māteria (matter) · gl material (text) · tg модда (matter) · eo materialo (matter) · lb Material (matter) · ru материа́л (cloth) · ru материа́л (text) · de Material (matter) · sga adbar (matter) · es material (sample or specimens for study) · lo ວັດສະດຸ (matter) · ko 재료 (matter) · izh materiala (matter) · hi सामग्री (matter) · bg мате́рия (cloth) · ur مادَّہ (matter) · ro material textil (cloth) · he חומר (text)

wikidata: Q28823

material en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/ (Canada, General-American)
• (California) audio

Etymology

From Middle English material, from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”). Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)). Doublet of materiel.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To form from matter; to materialize.
   • I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is left in the same state after death as before it was materialled unto life. 1642, [Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC:

Forms