material

material

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of material in English

English Online Dictionary. What means material‎? What does material mean?

English

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.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA(key): /məˈtɪə.ɹi.əl/
  • (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /məˈtɪɹ.i.əl/
  • Hyphenation: ma‧te‧ri‧al

Adjective

material (comparative more material, superlative most material)

  1. Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
  2. Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily.
    Antonym: spiritual
  3. (logic) Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical.
  4. (especially law) Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial.
    Antonym: immaterial
  5. Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic.
  6. (obsolete) Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
    Synonyms: bulky, massive, solid, meaty
  7. (obsolete) In an important degree.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

material (countable and uncountable, plural materials)

  2. A basic matter (as metal, wood, plastic, fiber, etc.) from which the whole or the greater part of something physical (as a machine, {{l|en|id=tool]], building, fabric, etc.) is made.
    Synonym: raw material
  4. (sometimes collective, preceded by a qualifying word) A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity.
  6. (usually plural) Apparatus for doing or making something.
  7. 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.
  9. Cloth to be made into a garment; woven fabric.
  10. The elements, constituents or substance of which something physical or non-physical composed of or can be made of.
  11. (graphical user interface) An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
  12. (chess) All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard, excluding the king.
  13. (Ireland, now rare) The ingredients for making whisky punch.
    Synonym: matts
  14. (rare) The materiel of an army.
  15. (obsolete) Things that are material.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:material

Derived terms

Related terms

  • matter

Translations

See also

  • materiel

Verb

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.

References

  • “material, adj., n. & v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  • Philip Babcock Gove et al., editors (1961), “material n”, in Webster's Third New International Dictionary  […], volume II (H to R), published 1981, →ISBN, page 1392

Further reading

  • “material”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

  • Armalite

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin materiālis.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

material m or f (masculine and feminine plural materials)

  1. material (clarification of this definition is needed)

Noun

material m (plural materials)

  1. material (clarification of this definition is needed)

Related terms

  • matèria

Further reading

  • “material”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Latin materialis.

Noun

material

  1. material

Declension

References

  • Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎[5], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

Galician

Noun

material m (plural materiais)

  1. material

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch materiaal. Doublet of materiel.

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Indonesian) IPA(key): /mateˈrial/ [ma.t̪eˈri.al]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: ma‧te‧ri‧al

Noun

matérial (plural material-material)

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

Related terms

Further reading

  • “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.

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • materiel, materiall, materyal, materyall, matryal

Etymology

From Latin māteriālis; equivalent to matere +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

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.

Descendants

  • English: material

References

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Late Latin materiale.

Noun

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

  1. alternative form of materiale

Derived terms

  • råmaterial

References

  • “material” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria (“wood, material, substance”), from māter (“mother”). By surface analysis, matéria +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

Adjective

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

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:material.

Derived terms

  • materialismo
  • materialista
  • materialmente

Related terms

  • matéria

Further reading

  • “material”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

material n (plural materiali)

  1. material

Declension

Adjective

material m or n (feminine singular materială, masculine plural materiali, feminine and neuter plural materiale)

  1. material

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

material m or f (masculine and feminine plural materiales)

  1. material

Noun

material m (plural materiales)

  1. material

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

  • “material”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

material n

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

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

  • material in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.