matter

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin materia (“wood”), from mater (“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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmætə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmætɚ/, [-ɾɚ]
• Homophone: madder (some US pronunciations)
• Hyphenation: mat‧ter
• Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)

Noun

matter (countable and uncountable, plural matters)

1. (uncountable) Material; substance.
   1. (physics) Anything with mass.
   2. (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

      Antonym: antimatter

   3. A kind of substance.

   4. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

   5. (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
2. An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.
3. An approximate amount or extent.
4. (countable, law) Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.

5. (obsolete) Essence; pith; embodiment.
6. (obsolete) (The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
7. (dated, medicine) Pus.
8. (uncountable) Importance.

Usage notes

• As regards sense 2 ("an affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or one that is problematic"), the phrase the matter can in most cases be replaced by the adjective wrong. Thus, a phrase like "there is nothing the matter" can be reworded as "there is nothing wrong".

Synonyms

• material
• stuff
• substance

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

matter (third-person singular simple present matters, present participle mattering, simple past and past participle mattered)

1. (intransitive, stative) To be important. [from 16th c.]
2. (transitive, in negative constructions, now England regional, Caribbean) To care about, to mind; to find important. [from 17th c.]
   • , Folio Society 1973, p.47:

     Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]
3. (intransitive, medicine, archaic) To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

Synonyms

• (be important): signify

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• matter on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• matter (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “matter”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “matter” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.te/

Verb

matter

1. Alternative spelling of mater

Conjugation

Anagrams

• mettra

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmatɐ/

Adjective

matter

1. comparative degree of matt
2. inflection of matt:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

Middle French

Alternative forms

• mater

Verb

matter

1. to checkmate

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

matter m pl or f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

matter f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)