material

noun

• 1the matter from which a thing is or can be made:goats can eat more or less any plant material materials such as brass highly flammable materials
• (usually materials) things needed for an activity:cleaning materials
• [with adjective or noun modifier] a person of a specified quality or suitability:he’s not really Olympic material

• 2facts, information, or ideas for use in creating a book or other work:there is much good material here for priests to use in sermons
• items, especially songs or jokes, comprising a performer’s act:a band playing original material

• 3cloth or fabric:a piece of dark material dress materials

adjective

• 1 [attributive] denoting or consisting of physical objects rather than the mind or spirit:the material world moral and material support
• concerned with physical needs or desires:material living standards have risen
• concerned with the matter of reasoning, not its form:political conflict lacks mathematical or material certitude

• 2important; essential; relevant:the insects did not do any material damage to the crop
• chiefly Law (of evidence or a fact) significant, influential, or relevant, especially to the extent of determining a cause or affecting a judgment:information that could be material to a murder inquiry