material

adj

1. Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.

   “This compound has a number of interesting material properties.”

   “the material elements of the universe”

2. Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; corporeal; bodily.

   “material needs”

3. Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, as distinguished from the form of it, especially empirical.

   “material cause”

   “the material aspect of being”

4. (especially)Having real importance or great consequences; significant; substantial.

   “found a material difference between two things”

   “You've made several material contributions to this project.”

   “This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.”

   “discourse, which was always material, not trifling”

   “I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose.”

5. Relating to or concerned with what is purely physical rather than intellectual or spiritual, especially excessively so; materialistic.

   “the material world”

   “interested only in material progress”

   “Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.”

   “'Cause we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl / You know that we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl”

6. (obsolete)Full of substance or otherwise meaning.
7. (obsolete)In an important degree.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A basic matter (as metal, wood, plastic, fiber, etc.) from which the whole or the greater part of something physical (as a machine, tool, building, fabric, etc.) is made.

   “Asphalt, composed of oil and sand, is a widely used material for roads.”

   “In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally. For all reverbation lasts for a short time, and produces new sounds which mix with those which are coming in.”

   “Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)”

2. (collective, countable, sometimes, uncountable)A person, or people collectively, who are qualified or suited for a certain position or activity.

   “boy/girlfriend material”

   “marriage material”

   “We have lots of presidential material in various public offices.”

   “Before she married her husband, Kiersten Little considered him ideal father material.”

3. (countable, plural, uncountable, usually)Apparatus for doing or making something.

   “Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.”

4. (countable, uncountable)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.

   “teaching materials”

   “We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.”

   “With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…]”

5. (countable, uncountable)Fabric, which can be made into a garments, curtains, etc; especially, woven fabric (cloth).

   “a piece of material”

   “You'll need about a yard of material to make this.”

   “Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.”

6. (countable, uncountable)The elements, constituents or substance of which something physical or non-physical composed of or can be made of.

   “The solid materials of the mixture will settle to the bottom of the container.”

   “The material of his character was basically good.”

   “[…] I beleeve that as they ſay of the materialls of the world, they would ſoone diſolve if the ſoule of it were taken away […]”

   “As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.”

7. (countable, uncountable)An element of a design language associated with a certain style of rendering on the display.
8. (countable, uncountable)All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard, excluding the king.
9. (Ireland, archaic, countable, uncountable)The ingredients for making whisky punch.
10. (countable, rare, uncountable)The materiel of an army.
11. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Things that are material.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)To form from matter; to materialize.

   “I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is left in the same state after death as before it was materialled unto life.”