n.

1. the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object;
   stuff
   
   • coal is a hard black material
   • wheat is the stuff they use to make bread
2. information (data or ideas or observations) that can be used or reworked into a finished form
   
   • the archives provided rich material for a definitive biography
3. things needed for doing or making something
   
   • writing materials
   • useful teaching materials
4. artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers;
   fabric, cloth, textile
   
   • the fabric in the curtains was light and semitransparent
   • woven cloth originated in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC
   • she measured off enough material for a dress
5. a person judged suitable for admission or employment
   
   • he was university material
   • she was vice-presidential material

adj.

1. concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
   
   • material possessions
   • material wealth
   • material comforts
2. derived from or composed of matter
   
   • the material universe
3. directly relevant to a matter especially a law case
   
   • his support made a material difference
   • evidence material to the issue at hand
   • facts likely to influence the judgment are called material facts
   • a material witness
4. concerned with or affecting physical as distinct from intellectual or psychological well-being; "material needs"; "the moral and material welfare of all good citizens"- T.Roosevelt
5. having material or physical form or substance; "that which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible and tangible" - Benjamin Jowett;
   corporeal
6. having substance or capable of being treated as fact; not imaginary; "the substantial world"; "a mere dream, neither substantial nor practical"; "most ponderous and substantial things"- Shakespeare;
   substantial, real