material
UK /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/ · US /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms materials materialing materialling materialed materialled
- adjective Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical. “This compound has a number of interesting material properties.”
- adjective Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily. “material needs”
- adjective (logic) Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical. “material cause”
- adjective (especially law) Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial. “found a material difference between two things”
- adjective Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic. “the material world”
- adjective (obsolete) Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
- adjective (obsolete) In an important degree.
- noun 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. “Asphalt, composed of oil and sand, is a widely used material for roads.”
- noun (sometimes collective, preceded by a qualifying word) A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity. “boy/girlfriend material”
- noun (usually plural) Apparatus for doing or making something.
- noun 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. “teaching materials”
- noun Fabric, which can be made into a garments, curtains, etc; especially, woven fabric (cloth). “a piece of material”
- noun The elements, constituents or substance of which something physical or non-physical composed of or can be made of. “The solid materials of the mixture will settle to the bottom of the container.”
- noun (graphical user interface) An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
- noun (chess) All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard, excluding the king.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To form from matter; to materialize.
Synonyms
bulky massive solid meaty raw material appoint matts stuff fabric cloth textile corporeal substantial real
Antonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical; as, material substance or bodies.
- adjective Hence: Pertaining to, or affecting, the physical nature of man, as distinguished from the mental or moral nature; relating to the bodily wants, interests, and comforts.
- noun The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be made. Raw material, any crude, unfinished, or elementary materials that are adapted to use only by processes of skilled labor. Cotton, wool, ore, logs, etc., are raw material.
- verb To form from matter; to materialize. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
Etymology [L. materialis, fr. materia stuff, matter: cf. F. matériel. See Matter, and cf. MatÉriel.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “material”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details