material in WordNet English dictionary

1. artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers
   "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"
   fabric  cloth  material  textile 
   
2. things needed for doing or making something
   "writing materials"; "useful teaching materials"
   material 
   
3. 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"
   material 
   
4. a person judged suitable for admission or employment
   "he was university material"; "she was vice-presidential material"
   material 
   
5. the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
   "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread"
   material  stuff 
   

1. having material or physical form or substance
   "that which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible and tangible" - Benjamin Jowett
   corporeal  material 
   
2. derived from or composed of matter
   "the material universe"
   material 
   
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"
   material 
   
4. 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  material 
   
5. 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
   material 
   
6. concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
   "material possessions"; "material wealth"; "material comforts"
   material