Etymology
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materialist (n.)

1660s and after in various philosophical and theological senses, on model of French matérialiste, from material (n.) + -ist. Also see materialism.

Entries linking to materialist

material (n.)

late 14c., "component substance, matter from which a thing is made," from material (adj.).

-ist 
word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.

Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.

updated on April 04, 2014

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Definitions of materialist from WordNet

materialist (n.)
someone with great regard for material possessions;
materialist (n.)
someone who thinks that nothing exists but physical matter;
From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

Dictionary entries near materialist

mate

mater-

materia medica

material

materialism

materialist

materialistic

materiality

materialization

materialize

materially

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