Word Finder - material

definition

Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.

example

Asphalt, composed of oil and sand, is a widely used material for roads.

definition

Text written for a specific purpose.

example

We were a warm-up act at the time; we didn't have enough original material to headline.

definition

A sample or specimens for study.

definition

Cloth to be made into a garment. Fabric.

example

You'll need about a yard of material to make this.

definition

The people collectively who are qualified for a certain position or activity.

example

He is not the only one. I believe we have lots of presidential material in various public offices.

definition

Related data of various kinds, especially if collected as the basis for a document or book.

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The substance that something is made or composed of.

definition

All of a player's pieces and pawns on the chessboard.

definition

To form from matter; to materialize.

definition

Having to do with matter; consisting of matter.

example

This compound has a number of interesting material properties.

definition

Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.

example

Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.

definition

Significant.

example

This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.

All scientific material from the past is making its way online.

She collected a handful of the material in modest protest.

She had nothing material to report.

I'm not about to waste my best material on a machine!

Katie found some material to match and made quilts for the cribs.

This material is used for stuffing mattresses or pillows, and also in upholstery.

A hood made of rough material was thrown over her head and her hands bound before she could scream.

It was light, a curved grey sword made of the same material as the beds and spaceships.

We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.

Her first impression was confirmed—the men in the room were UFC material, all well over six feet and solid.

The material was pure, and his art was pure; how could the result be other than wonderful?

It was muted black, made out of material smoother than silk that draped over her arm like a second skin.

Oh, and they change color if they detect structural weakness in the material to which they are affixed.

When all the factories run themselves, when energy is free, when scarcity is ended, when material needs are all met, it will be a different world.

I am forbidden from creating deals with material outcomes.

She didn't think he was celebrity material before seeing him in action.

This speaks to the fabulous wealth of this country and how our expectation of material possessions has risen so fast that we have redefined poverty to include what once were deemed luxury items.

Deidre clutched at the material of his shirt.

Aristotle's distinction of form and matter, and his conception of becoming as a transition from actuality to potentiality, provides a new ontological way of conceiving the process of material and organic evolution.'

The architect was Mnesicles; the material Pentelic marble, with Eleusinian blackstone for dados and other details.

Many of the Hydrophilidae construct, for the protection of their eggs, a cocoon formed of a silky material derived from glands opening at the tip of the abdomen.

Occasionally the massive material is cut and polished for decorative purposes, though the application in this direction is far less extensive than that of malachite.

Fortune again favoured the Russian arms, but as Austria was less successful and signed a separate peace at Sistova in 1791, Catherine did not obtain much material advantage from the campaign.

By making them in longer lengths a reduction was effected in the number of joints - always the weakest part of the line; and another advance consisted in the substitution of wrought iron for cast iron, though that material did not gain wide adoption until after the patent for an improved method of rolling rails granted in 1820 to John Birkinshaw, of the Bedlington Ironworks, Durham.

Meantime, the purchasing power of the dollar which the railway company receives for a specified service is gradually growing smaller, owing to the general increases year by year in wages and in the cost of material.

In soft material the excavation may be performed by mechanical excavators or " steam navvies," while in hard it may be necessary to resort to blasting.

Except in hard rock, the top width of a cutting, and therefore the amount of material to be excavated, increases rapidly with the depth; hence if a cutting exceeds a certain depth, which varies with the particular circumstances, it may be more economical, instead of forming the sides at the slope at which the material of which they are composed will stand, to make them nearly vertical and support the soil with a retaining wall, or to bore a tunnel.

The weight required to cause the downward motion is obtained either by means of the material which has to be transported to the bottom of the hill or by water ballast, while to aid and regulate the motion generally steam or electric motors are arranged to act on the main drums, round which the cable is passed with a sufficient number of turns to prevent slipping.

Wood is the material most widely used, but steel is employed in some countries where timber is scarce or liable to destruction by white ants, though it is still regarded as too expensive in comparison with wood for general adoption.

The substitution of steel for iron as the material for rails which made possible the axle loads and the speeds of Lto-day, and, by reducing the cost of maintenance, contributed enormously to the economic efficiency of railways, was one of the most important events in the history of railways, and a scarcely less important element of progressive economy has been the continued improvement of the steel rail in stiffness of section and in toughness and hardness of material.

On the other hand, where, as in America, the great volume of freight is raw material and crude food-stuffs, and the distances are great, a low charge per unit of transportation is more important than any consideration such as quickness of delivery; therefore full car-loads of freight are massed into enormous trains, which run unbroken for distances of perhaps 1000 m.

This type has the advantage of economy in first construction, there being the minimum amount of material to be excavated, and no interference during construction with street traffic or subsurface structures; it has, however, the disadvantage of the cost of o p eration of lifts at the stations.

The houses in many instances are built of stone (a circumstance which indicates the former wealth of the city, as the material had to be brought from a very considerable distance); and remains of a brick wall, 3 m.

Later followed the appearance of lights; quasi-human voices; musical sounds, produced, it is said, without instruments; the "materialization" or presence in material form of what seemed to be human hands and faces, and ultimately of complete figures, alleged to be not those of any person present, and sometimes claimed by witnesses as deceased relatives; "psychography," or "direct writing and drawing," asserted to be done without human intervention; "spirit-photography," or the appearance on photographic plates of human and other forms when no counterpart was visible before the camera to any but specially endowed seers; 3 unfastening of cords and bonds; elongation of the medium's body; handling of red-hot coals; and the apparent passage of solids through solids without disintegration.

It is possible to classify sacrifices according to (a) the occasion of the rite, (b) the end to be achieved, (c) the material object to be affected or (d) the form of the rite.

In the latter either some material object, not necessarily animate, is deprived of a portion of its sanctity and made fit for human use, or the sacrificer himself loses a portion of his sanctity or impurity.

For Hinduism and later Judaism we possess a wealth of material on which to base a comparative study of the forms of sacrifice; a form of this - animal sacrifice in the Vedas - has been analysed by MM.

The corpse may be burnt, in part or as a whole; portions may be assigned to the priest, the sacrificer and the gods; the skull, bones, &c., may receive special treatment; the fat or blood may be set aside, and they or the ashes may be singled out as the share of the god, to be offered upon the altar; the skin of the victim may be employed as a covering for the idol or material representative of the god, either permanently or till the next annual sacrifice.

It is only possible here to refer in briefest enumeration to the material and external objects and forms of popular Hebrew religion.

On the other side the right wing was commanded by the duke of Ferrara, who had like Navarro organized a mobile field artillery (the artillery material of this prince was thought to be the best conditioned in Europe).

He made two unsuccessful ventures in journalism, and in 1857 went to Central America, where he acquired material for another series of lectures.

Like Berthelot, he writes the chemical equation of the reaction, but in addition he considers the chemical formula of each substance to express not only its material composition, but also the (unknown) value of its intrinsic energy.

Thus one may note the reshaping of older material to agree with later thought, the building up of past periods from the records of other periods, and a frequent loss of perspective.

Surrounded by ancient civilizations where writing had long been known, and enjoying, as excavation has proved, a considerable amount of material culture, Palestine could look back upon a lengthy and stirring history which, however, has rarely left its mark upon our records.

But the surviving material is extremely uneven; vital events in these centuries are treated with a slightness in striking contrast to the relatively detailed evidence for the preceding period - evidence, however, which is far from being contemporary.

Where the material is fuller, serious discrepancies are found; and where external evidence is fortunately available, the independent character of the biblical history is vividly illustrated.

The scantiness of political information and the distinctive arrangement of material preclude the attempt to trace the relative position of the two rivals.

The discovery of the inscription of a later king of Moab (q.v.) has proved that the east-Jordanic tribes were no uncivilized or barbaric folk; material wealth, a considerable religious and political organization, and the cultivation of letters (as exemplified in the style of the inscription) portray conditions which allow us to form some conception of life in Israel itself.

Recent criticism goes to show that there is a very considerable body of biblical material, more important for its attitude to the history than for its historical accuracy, the true meaning of which cannot as yet be clearly perceived.

It was not a new religion that took root; older tendencies were diverted into new paths, the existing material was shaped to new ends.