MATERIAL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Material

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/mətˈɪriəl/ Listen

noun

Material n. The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be made.

Raw material, any crude, unfinished, or elementary materials that are adapted to use only by processes of skilled labor. Cotton, wool, ore, logs, etc., are raw material.

adjective

Material adj.

Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical; as, material substance or bodies. "The material elements of the universe."

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; as, material well-being; material comforts.

Of solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of consequence; not be dispensed with; important; significant. "Discourse, which was always material, never trifling." "I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose."

(Logic.) Pertaining to the matter, as opposed to the form, of a thing. See Matter.

Material cause. See under Cause.

Material evidence (Law), evidence which conduces to the proof or disproof of a relevant hypothesis.

Synonyms: Corporeal; bodily; important; weighty; momentous; essential.

verb

Material v. t. To form from matter; to materialize. (Obs.)

See images of 'Material'

Etymology of 'Material'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Material" Quotes from Famous Books

... not interpret the Jewish formula of belief in the same spirit as the herd,— the religion inculcated in the breast of Leila was different from that which Inez had ever before encountered amongst her proselytes. It was less mundane and material—a kind of passionate rather than metaphysical theism, which invested the great ONE, indeed, with many human sympathies and attributes, but still left Him the August and awful God of the Genesis, the Father of a Universe though ...

— Leila or, The Siege of Granada, Book III. • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... forms sprang into being and leaped across emptiness. There were microwaves of strictly standard amplitude, for measurement-standards. There were frequencies of other values, which would be selectively absorbed by this material and that. There were laterally and circularly polarized beams. When they bounced back, they would bring a surprising ...

— The Aliens • Murray Leinster

... no air, and no friction in the apparatus of suspension, the pendulum would continue to go as well without the wheel-work as with it. With the wheel-work it beats as permanently and steadily upon material supports and plunged in a dense atmosphere, as it would if it were hung upon nothing, and were swinging in nothing; and also performs its backward and forward business in solitude and darkness, to the same practical purpose that it would if the eyes of watchful and observant guardians ...

— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 457 - Volume 18, New Series, October 2, 1852 • Various

... really heartless?" thought the old man, with a pang of disappointment. "Am I mistaken in thinking the good material is there?" ...

— Great Uncle Hoot-Toot • Mrs. Molesworth

... wife very little further need be said. From that time forth nothing material occurred to interrupt the even course of their domestic harmony. Very speedily, a further vacancy on the bench of bishops gave Dr Proudie the seat in the House of Lords, which he at first so anxiously longed for. But by this time, he had become a wiser man. ...

— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope

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