- material
- late 14c. (adj.) "pertaining to matter," a term in scholastic philosophy and theology, from L.L. materialis (adj.) "of or belonging to matter," from L. materia "matter, stuff, wood, timber" (see matter). The noun is attested from 1556. Materialism is 1748 as a philosophy that nothing exists except matter (from Fr.); 1851 (in Hawthorne) as "a way of life based entirely on consumer goods." Materialize "appear in bodily form" dates from 1880, from spiritualism.