material Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
    stuff.
    • coal is a hard black material
    • wheat is the stuff they use to make bread
  2. noun information (data or ideas or observations) that can be used or reworked into a finished form
    • the archives provided rich material for a definitive biography
  3. noun artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers
    textile; cloth; fabric.
    • the fabric in the curtains was light and semitransparent
    • woven cloth originated in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC
    • she measured off enough material for a dress
  4. noun things needed for doing or making something
    • writing materials
    • useful teaching materials
  5. noun a person judged suitable for admission or employment
    • he was university material
    • she was vice-presidential material
  6. adjective satellite concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
    • material possessions
    • material wealth
    • material comforts
  7. adjective derived from or composed of matter
    • the material universe
  8. adjective directly relevant to a matter especially a law case
    • his support made a material difference
    • evidence material to the issue at hand
    • facts likely to influence the judgment are called material facts
    • a material witness
  9. adjective satellite concerned with or affecting physical as distinct from intellectual or psychological well-being
    • material needs
    • the moral and material welfare of all good citizens"- T.Roosevelt
  10. adjective having material or physical form or substance
    corporeal.
    • that which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible and tangible" - Benjamin Jowett
  11. adjective having substance or capable of being treated as fact; not imaginary
    real; substantial.
    • the substantial world
    • a mere dream, neither substantial nor practical
    • most ponderous and substantial things"- Shakespeare

WordNet

Ma*te"ri*al adjective
Etymology
L. materialis, fr. materia stuff, matter: cf. F. matériel. See Matter, and cf. MatÉriel.
Definitions
  1. Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical; as, material substance or bodies.
    The material elements of the universe. Whewell.
  2. 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.
  3. Of solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of cinsequence; not be dispensed with; important.
    Discourse, which was always material, never trifling. Evelyn.
    I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose. Locke.
  4. (Logic.) Pertaining to the matter, as opposed to the form, of a thing. See Matter. Syn. -- Corporeal; bodily; important; weighty; momentous; essential.
Ma*te"ri*al noun
Definitions
  1. The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be made.
Ma*te"ri*al transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To form from matter; to materialize. Obs. Sir T. Browne.

Webster 1913