Etimology
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.
adjective
material (comparative more material, superlative most material)
Having to do with matter; consisting of matter.
Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.
(law, accounting) Significant.
Examples
This compound has a number of interesting material properties.
the material elements of the universe
Antonym: spiritual
Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.
Antonym: immaterial
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
I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose.
Related words
synonyms
(related to matter): See also Thesaurus:substantial
(worldly): mundane
(significant): See also Thesaurus:pertinent
noun
material (countable and uncountable, plural materials)
Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.
Text written for a specific purpose.
A sample or specimens for study.
Cloth to be made into a garment. Fabric.
A person, or people collectively, who are qualified for a certain position or activity.
Related data of various kinds, especially if collected as the basis for a document or book.
The substance that something is made or composed of.
(graphical user interface) An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
(chess) All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard.
Examples
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.
Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] .
We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.
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 […]
You'll need about a yard of material to make this.
Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.
boy/girlfriend material
marriage material
We have lots of presidential material in various public offices.
Before she married her husband, Kiersten Little considered him ideal father material.
Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. 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.
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.
Related words
synonyms
See also Thesaurus:material
related terms
matter
verb
material (third-person singular simple present materials, present participle materialling, simple past and past participle materialled)
(obsolete, transitive) To form from matter; to materialize.
Examples
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.