Defn: 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. Wharton.
Syn.
— Corporeal; bodily; important; weighty; momentous; essential.
MATERIAL
Ma*te"ri*al, n.
Defn: 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.
MATERIAL
Ma*te"ri*al, v. t.
Defn: To form from matter; to materialize. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
MATERIALISM
Ma*te"ri*al*ism, n. Etym: [Cf. F. matérialisme.]
1. The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and tenets. The irregular fears of a future state had been supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus. Buckminster.
2. The tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.
3. Material substances in the aggregate; matter. [R. & Obs.] A. Chalmers.