material.
Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
Meaning & usage
Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
This compound has a number of interesting material properties.
Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily.
material needs
Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical.
material cause
the material aspect of being
Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial.
found a material difference between two things
You've made several material contributions to this project.
Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic.
the material world
interested only in material progress
Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
In an important degree.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity.
boy/girlfriend material
marriage material
Apparatus for doing or making something.
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
We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.
Fabric, which can be made into a garments, curtains, etc; especially, woven fabric (cloth).
a piece of material
You'll need about a yard of material to make this.
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.
The material of his character was basically good.
An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard, excluding the king.
The ingredients for making whisky punch.
The materiel of an army.
Things that are material.
Where this word comes from
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.
To form from matter; to materialize.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.