n.
- the matter from which a thing is or can be made.
▸items needed for an activity.
▸a person of a specified quality or suitability:
he's not really Olympic material.
- information or ideas for use in creating a book, performance, or other work.
- cloth or fabric.
adj.
- denoting or consisting of physical objects rather than the mind or spirit:
the material world.
▸concerned with the matter of reasoning, not its form.
- significant; important:
the insects did not do any material damage.
▸
(
often material to)
relevant:
information that could be material to a murder inquiry.
Derivative
- materiality n.
(pl. materialities)
.
Etymology
ME: from late L. materialis, from L. materia ‘matter’.