materialism en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Mid-Atlantic, US) audio
- (Southern-England) audio
- /məˈtɪəɹiəlɪzəm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/ (General-American)
Etymology
Borrowed from French matérialisme. By surface analysis, material + -ism.
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) Constant concern over material possessions and wealth; a great or excessive regard for worldly concerns.
We accept that a third of the population live on the poverty line. We accept that only a handful of the most exceptional of the children of the poor will make it through to a third-level education. We accept massive examples of greed and dishonesty in public life. We except the values of materialism. What do we expect then—to be left un-harassed, we who have all the privileges?
2010, Nuala O'Faolain, “An Ugly Little War”, in A More Complex Truth:
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(countable, uncountable) The philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical.
With the rise of Cartesian and Hobbesian mechanical philosophy and materialism in the 16th and 17th centuries, the classical argument for the immateriality of the intellect and will was simply ignored and then forgotten.
2015 January 26, Michael Egnor, “Aristotle on the Immateriality of Intellect and Will”, in Evolution News, retrieved 11 Jan 2021:Medical materialism seems indeed a good appellation for the too simple-minded system of thought which we are considering. ... All such mental over-tensions, it says, are, when you come to the bottom of the matter, mere affairs of diathesis (auto-intoxications most probably), due to the perverted action of various glands which physiology will yet discover.
1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:The result of the labours of philosophy appeared to be a total scepticism on the most important subjects of hu man duty and expectation. The irregular fears of a future state had been supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus; and this system—if system it may be called, which left them without a God, a providence, a morality, or a retribution—was the fashionable philosophy of the more cultivated classes.
1814, Joseph S. Buckminster, The Sermons by the Late Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, Sermon I:
- (countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable) Synonym of matter, material substances in the aggregate.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| materialisms | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
nonmaterialism · scientific materialism · dialectical materialism · eliminative materialism · philosophical materialism · historical materialism · postmaterialism · antimaterialism · new materialism · neo-materialism · transcendental materialism · hypermaterialism · speculative materialism
Relateds
physicalism · materialist · materialistic · idealism
Synonyms
philosophical materialism · hylism · material substances in the aggregate · hylism · hylozoism · matter · hylicism · thingism · hylicism · physicalism
Translations (60)
be матэрыялі́зм (philosophical belief) · cs materialismus (concern over material possessions) · de Materialismus (concern over material possessions) · th สสารนิยม (concern over material possessions) · fr matérialisme (philosophical belief) · ga ábharachas (concern over material possessions) · pt materialismo (philosophical belief) · sv materialism (philosophical belief) · th วัตถุนิยม (concern over material possessions) · ru материали́зм (concern over material possessions) · ja 唯物論 (philosophical belief) · ga saoltacht (concern over material possessions) · my ရုပ်ဝါဒ (concern over material possessions) · vo materim (concern over material possessions) · fr matérialisme (concern over material possessions) · pl materializm (concern over material possessions) · cmn 唯物論 /唯物论 (philosophical belief) · ja 唯物主義 (philosophical belief) · ca materialisme (concern over material possessions) · pl materializm (philosophical belief) · uk матеріалі́зм (concern over material possessions) · io materialismo (concern over material possessions) · ur مادہ پرستی (concern over material possessions) · hy մատերիալիզմ (philosophical belief) · ro materialism (philosophical belief) · tl hilig-makalupa (concern over material possessions) · ka მატერიალიზმი (concern over material possessions) · tl pagkamakasangkap (philosophical belief) · ar مَادِّيَّة (concern over material possessions) · el υλισμός (philosophical belief) · el υλισμός (concern over material possessions) · ru материали́зм (philosophical belief) · de Materialismus (philosophical belief) · km សម្ភារនិយម (concern over material possessions) · ro materialism (concern over material possessions) · eo materialismo (philosophical belief) · fa مادهانگاری (concern over material possessions) · th สสารนิยม (philosophical belief) · cmn 唯物主義 /唯物主义 (philosophical belief) · eo materiismo (philosophical belief) · fa مادهباوری (concern over material possessions) · ia materialismo (concern over material possessions) · fa مادهگرایی (concern over material possessions) · es materialismo (concern over material possessions) · uk матеріалі́зм (philosophical belief) · fi materialismi (concern over material possessions) · ga ábharachas (philosophical belief) · it materialismo (concern over material possessions) · fi materialismi (philosophical belief) · km លោកាយតទិដ្ឋិ (philosophical belief) · pt materialismo (concern over material possessions) · be матэрыялі́зм (concern over material possessions) · ur مادیت (concern over material possessions) · es materialismo (philosophical belief) · ar مَادِّيَّة (philosophical belief) · gl materialismo (concern over material possessions) · vo stöfim (philosophical belief) · bn বস্তুবাদ (philosophical belief) · th วัตถุนิยม (philosophical belief) · ca materialisme (philosophical belief)