Material
noun
The substances or things needed to make something.
The builder ordered more material for the house.
Often appears as...
- building material
- material resources
noun
Information or ideas for use in creating a book, film, or other work.
He was gathering material for his next novel.
Often appears as...
- writing material
- material for research
adjective
Important, relevant, or significant.
John was a material witness in the court case.
Often appears as...
- material evidence
- material fact
noun
Fabric or cloth.
She bought material to make a dress.
Often appears as...
- cream material
- material for curtains
adjective
Relating to physical objects or money rather than spiritual or intellectual aspects.
He is focused on material wealth.
Often appears as...
- material possessions
- material wealth
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
The substances or things needed to make something.
The builder ordered more material for the house.
Often appears as...
- building material
- material resources
noun
Information or ideas for use in creating a book, film, or other work.
He was gathering material for his next novel.
Often appears as...
- writing material
- material for research
adjective
Important, relevant, or significant.
John was a material witness in the court case.
Often appears as...
- material evidence
- material fact
noun
Fabric or cloth.
She bought material to make a dress.
Often appears as...
- cream material
- material for curtains
adjective
Relating to physical objects or money rather than spiritual or intellectual aspects.
He is focused on material wealth.
Often appears as...
- material possessions
- material wealth
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/3Concrete Usage
Use 'material' to talk about tangible items used in construction or production.
We need to order more material for the new deck.
Pro Tip 2/3Non-Specific Objects
When you're not sure what exactly something is made from, 'material' is a useful generic term.
What kind of material is this toy made of?
Pro Tip 3/3Raw Inputs
'Material' often refers to unprocessed resources in a production process.
This factory processes raw materials into finished goods.
Pro Tip 1/3Concrete Usage
Use 'material' to talk about tangible items used in construction or production.
We need to order more material for the new deck.
Pro Tip 2/3Non-Specific Objects
When you're not sure what exactly something is made from, 'material' is a useful generic term.
What kind of material is this toy made of?
Pro Tip 3/3Raw Inputs
'Material' often refers to unprocessed resources in a production process.
This factory processes raw materials into finished goods.
Pro Tip 1/3Concrete Usage
Use 'material' to talk about tangible items used in construction or production.
We need to order more material for the new deck.
Pro Tip 2/3Non-Specific Objects
When you're not sure what exactly something is made from, 'material' is a useful generic term.
What kind of material is this toy made of?
Pro Tip 3/3Raw Inputs
'Material' often refers to unprocessed resources in a production process.
This factory processes raw materials into finished goods.
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Video examples
Creating Objects That...
On the top left is our materials and geometry. That's the obvious stuff. Everything we know in the physical world is made out of materials and geometry. Each one of those though responds to different types of energy. If you have moisture, you might want to use wood. If you have metal, you might want to use heat to activate it.
Video examples
Why is glass transparent?...
to lenses that allow us to see both the vast worlds beyond our planet, and the tiny ones right around us. It is hard to imagine modern civilization without glass. And yet for such an important material we rarely think about glass and its impact. It is precisely because the most important and useful quality of glass is
Video examples
How To Levitate PIPE The...
but they're also one of the coolest materials on the planet. What's so unique about these is they have zero electrical resistance. This means that an electric current can move through a superconductor without slowing down and barely leaking any energy away, meaning, it could go pretty much forever.
Video examples
Why should you read...
Yet, she expressed hope beyond suffering. Through deep thought, Woolf's characters are shown to temporarily transcend their material reality, and in its careful consideration of the complexity of the mind, her work charts the importance of making our inner lives known to each other.
Video examples
Gary Haugen: The hidden...
but those are winnable fights, because we've done some examples around the world at International Justice Mission that are very encouraging. So just tell us in one country, how much it costs to make a material difference to police, for example -- I know that's only one piece of it.
Video examples
How do vaccines work? -...
injected material from a cowpox virus into an eight-year-old boy with a hunch that this would provide the protection needed to save people from deadly outbreaks of the related smallpox virus. It was a success. The eight-year-old was inoculated against the disease
Video examples
A message of peace, hope...
beyond the grave and you know and I'm trying to get yourself right finding out about other other other ways of looking at this world other than the you know the material then the moral you know and so therefore when you look at it like
Video examples
How to recognize a...
imagining a world where certain trends in contemporary society are taken to extremes, exposing their underlying flaws. And the next few centuries would provide plenty of material. Industrial technology that promised to free laborers
Video examples
What makes a poem … a...
Poets, like craftsman, still work with the raw materials of the world to forge new understandings and comment on what it is to be human in a way only humans can. Dartmouth researchers tested this idea by asking robots to pen poetry.
Video examples
How does fracking work?...
This liquid containing contaminants like radioactive material, salts, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons, needs to be stored and disposed of. That's usually done in pits on-site in deep wells
Video examples
Creating Objects That...
On the top left is our materials and geometry. That's the obvious stuff. Everything we know in the physical world is made out of materials and geometry. Each one of those though responds to different types of energy. If you have moisture, you might want to use wood. If you have metal, you might want to use heat to activate it.
Video examples
Why is glass transparent?...
to lenses that allow us to see both the vast worlds beyond our planet, and the tiny ones right around us. It is hard to imagine modern civilization without glass. And yet for such an important material we rarely think about glass and its impact. It is precisely because the most important and useful quality of glass is
Video examples
How To Levitate PIPE The...
but they're also one of the coolest materials on the planet. What's so unique about these is they have zero electrical resistance. This means that an electric current can move through a superconductor without slowing down and barely leaking any energy away, meaning, it could go pretty much forever.
Video examples
Why should you read...
Yet, she expressed hope beyond suffering. Through deep thought, Woolf's characters are shown to temporarily transcend their material reality, and in its careful consideration of the complexity of the mind, her work charts the importance of making our inner lives known to each other.
Video examples
Gary Haugen: The hidden...
but those are winnable fights, because we've done some examples around the world at International Justice Mission that are very encouraging. So just tell us in one country, how much it costs to make a material difference to police, for example -- I know that's only one piece of it.
Video examples
How do vaccines work? -...
injected material from a cowpox virus into an eight-year-old boy with a hunch that this would provide the protection needed to save people from deadly outbreaks of the related smallpox virus. It was a success. The eight-year-old was inoculated against the disease
Video examples
A message of peace, hope...
beyond the grave and you know and I'm trying to get yourself right finding out about other other other ways of looking at this world other than the you know the material then the moral you know and so therefore when you look at it like
Video examples
How to recognize a...
imagining a world where certain trends in contemporary society are taken to extremes, exposing their underlying flaws. And the next few centuries would provide plenty of material. Industrial technology that promised to free laborers
Video examples
What makes a poem … a...
Poets, like craftsman, still work with the raw materials of the world to forge new understandings and comment on what it is to be human in a way only humans can. Dartmouth researchers tested this idea by asking robots to pen poetry.
Video examples
How does fracking work?...
This liquid containing contaminants like radioactive material, salts, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons, needs to be stored and disposed of. That's usually done in pits on-site in deep wells
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Oprah Winfrey
American Entertainer
What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives.
Quote examples
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian Leader
Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.
Quote examples
Meryl Streep
American Actress
Every single decision I make about what material I do, what I'm putting out in the world, is because of my children.
Quote examples
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Philosopher
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.
Quote examples
Alicia Keys
American Musician
I see what happens when one gets very attached to material things. That's just not what my life is.
Quote examples
Jack Reynor
Irish Actor
For me, working on original material is very important.
Quote examples
Ziggy Marley
Jamaican Musician
There's more to life than physical and material.
Quote examples
Y'lan Noel
American Actor
What drives me is character driven material.
Quote examples
Josh Blue
I pull my material from daily life.
Quote examples
Gustavo Dudamel
Venezuelan Musician
My material life is simple.
Quote examples
Oprah Winfrey
American Entertainer
What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives.
Quote examples
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian Leader
Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.
Quote examples
Meryl Streep
American Actress
Every single decision I make about what material I do, what I'm putting out in the world, is because of my children.
Quote examples
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Philosopher
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.
Quote examples
Alicia Keys
American Musician
I see what happens when one gets very attached to material things. That's just not what my life is.
Quote examples
Jack Reynor
Irish Actor
For me, working on original material is very important.
Quote examples
Ziggy Marley
Jamaican Musician
There's more to life than physical and material.
Quote examples
Y'lan Noel
American Actor
What drives me is character driven material.
Quote examples
Josh Blue
I pull my material from daily life.
Quote examples
Gustavo Dudamel
Venezuelan Musician
My material life is simple.
Example 1 of 10
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