material

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.

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/

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• Hyphenation: ma‧te‧ri‧al

material (comparative more material, superlative most material)

1. Having to do with matter; consisting of matter.

   This compound has a number of interesting material properties.

   • 1913, Alfred Bowyer Sharpe, Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Evil:

     the material elements of the universe

2. Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.

   Antonym: spiritual

   Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.

   • 1984, Peter Brown and Robert Rans, “Material Girl”, in Like a Virgin‎, performed by Madonna:

     'Cause we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl / You know that we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl

3. (law, accounting) Significant.

   Antonym: immaterial

   You've made several material contributions to this project.

   This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.

   • 1685 March 20 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 10 March 1685]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

     discourse, which was always material, not trifling

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 3:

     I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose.

• (related to matter): See also Thesaurus:substantial
• (worldly): mundane
• (significant): See also Thesaurus:pertinent

material (countable and uncountable, plural materials)

1. Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.

   Asphalt, composed of oil and sand, is a widely used material for roads.

   • 1820, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature‎, 6th edition, volume 20, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, page 501:

     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.

   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

2. Text written for a specific purpose.

   We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.

3. A sample or specimens for study.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     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 […]

4. Cloth to be made into a garment. Fabric.

   You'll need about a yard of material to make this.

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 4:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.

5. A person, or people collectively, who are qualified for a certain position or activity.

   boy/girlfriend material

   marriage material

   We have lots of presidential material in various public offices.

   • 2021 November 20, Alex Williams, “To Breed or Not to Breed?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Before she married her husband, Kiersten Little considered him ideal father material.

6. Related data of various kinds, especially if collected as the basis for a document or book.
   • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:

     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.

7. The substance that something is made or composed of.
   • 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:

     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.

8. (graphical user interface) An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
9. (chess) All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard.

• See also Thesaurus:material

• matter

• materiel

material (third-person singular simple present materials, present participle materialling, simple past and past participle materialled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To form from matter; to materialize.
   • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC:

     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.

• Armalite

Borrowed from Latin materiālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [mə.tə.ɾiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ma.te.ɾiˈal]

material m or f (masculine and feminine plural materials)

1. material (clarification of this definition is needed)

material m (plural materials)

1. material (clarification of this definition is needed)

• matèria

• “material” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

From Latin materialis.

material

1. material

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

material m (plural materiais)

1. material

From Dutch materiaal, from Middle Dutch materiael, from Middle French material, from Old French material, from Latin māteriālis. Doublet of materiel.

• IPA^(key): [ma.teˈri.al]
• Hyphenation: ma‧té‧ri‧al

material (plural material-material, first-person possessive materialku, second-person possessive materialmu, third-person possessive materialnya)

1. material: matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.

• “material” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• materiel, materiall, materyal, materyall, matryal

From Latin māteriālis; equivalent to matere +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /matɛriˈaːl/, /maːtɛriˈaːl/, /maˈtɛːrial/, /matɛriˈɛːl/, /maˈtɛːriɛl/

material (plural and weak singular materiale)

1. Extant in matter or having physical form; material.
2. Not supernatural or spiritual; regular, conventional, worldly.
3. Being the physical attributes or properties of a thing.
4. Affecting or modifying physical matter or attributes.
5. (rare) Prominent, significant.

• English: material

• “mā̆teriāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-12.

From Late Latin materiale.

material n (definite singular materialet, indefinite plural material or materialer, definite plural materiala or materialene)

1. alternative form of materiale

• råmaterial

• “material” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”).

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: ma‧te‧ri‧al

material m (plural materiais)

1. material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)
2. material (sample or specimens for study)
   1. footage (amount of film produced)
   2. (education) resources used in class
3. tackle; supplies; gear; rig (objects collected for use in a particular activity)

   material escolar ― school supplies

   material de pesca ― fishing gear

For quotations using this term, see Citations:material.

material m or f (plural materiais)

1. (chemistry) material (relating to or composed of matter)
2. (religion) material; worldly (relating to physical rather than spiritual matters)

   Synonym: terreno

3. (of a person, derogatory) materialistic; consumeristic (obsessed with consumer goods)

   Synonyms: materialista, consumista

For quotations using this term, see Citations:material.

• materialismo
• materialista
• materialmente

• matéria

• “material” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from French matériel, from Latin materialis. By surface analysis, materie +‎ -al.

material n (plural materiali)

1. material

Borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis.

• IPA^(key): /mateˈɾjal/ [ma.t̪eˈɾjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ma‧te‧rial

material m or f (masculine and feminine plural materiales)

1. material

material m (plural materiales)

1. material

• “material”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

• Audio

  (file)

material n

1. a material
2. a matter, a subject (of study)

• bildmaterial
• forskningsmaterial
• informationsmaterial
• materialförvaltare
• materialism
• materialist
• materialkategori
• materialprovning
• materialtyp
• materiel
• materiell
• textmaterial
• tidningsmaterial

• material in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)