“matters” is a form of
matter
UK /ˈmætə/ · US /ˈmætɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms matters mattering mattered
- noun (physics) Anything with mass and volume.
- noun (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.
- noun A kind of substance. “vegetable matter”
- noun Printed material, especially in books or magazines. “He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.”
- noun (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
- noun An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic. “Something is the matter with him.”
- noun An approximate amount or extent. “I stayed for a matter of months.”
- noun (countable, law) Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue. “Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.”
- verb (intransitive, stative) To be important. “The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.”
- verb (transitive, in negative constructions, now England regional, Caribbean) To care about, to mind; to find important.
- verb (intransitive, medicine, archaic) To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
res material stuff substance hyle signify affair thing topic subject issue count weigh
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother.
Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment.
- noun That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance.
- verb To be of importance; to import; to signify.
- verb To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate. [R.] "Each slight sore mattereth." Sir P. Sidney.
Etymology [OE. matere, F. matière, fr. L. materia; perh. akin to L. mater mother. Cf. Mother, Madeira, Material.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “matter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details