material

Meaning

Adj

1. Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
2. Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily.
3. Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical.
4. (especially) Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial.
5. Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic.
6. (obsolete) Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
7. (obsolete) In an important degree.

Noun

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.
2. (collective, countable, sometimes, uncountable) A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity.
3. (countable, plural, uncountable, usually) Apparatus for doing or making something.
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.
5. (countable, uncountable) Cloth to be made into a garment; woven fabric.
6. (countable, uncountable) The elements, constituents or substance of which something physical or non-physical composed of or can be made of.
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.

Verb

To form from matter; to materialize.

Opposite of

spiritual, immaterial

Synonyms

substance

cloth

matter

physical

fabric

stuff

corporeal

substantial

bodily

textile

tangible

data

real

essential

concrete

equipment

important

worldly

raw material

ingredients

contents

subject

object

ingredient

property

economic

pertinent

thing

financial

germane

significant

stock

copy

scores

content

product

evidence

considerable

records

notable

materials

outstanding

composition

linen

elemental

element

materialistic

pecuniary

clothing

hardware

Translations

matériel

materiale

material

matériau

Material

Stoff

materiaal

matière

material

étoffe

stof

materiell

grondstof

materieel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: material

In summary

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.

Sentences

This is called self-focusing and in extreme cases leads to material destruction .

The type material is preserved in the collection of the Redpath Museum .

It uses material written by Stravinsky for aborted film projects .