material

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The substance or substances out of which a thing is or can be made.
• noun Something, such as an idea or information, that is to be refined and made or incorporated into a finished effort.
• noun Tools or apparatus for the performance of a given task.
• noun Yard goods or cloth.
• noun A person who is qualified or suited for a position or activity.
• adjective Of, relating to, or composed of matter.
• adjective Of, relating to, or affecting physical well-being; bodily.
• adjective Of or concerned with the physical as distinct from the intellectual or spiritual.
• adjective Being both relevant and consequential; crucial: synonym: relevant.
• adjective Philosophy Of or relating to the matter of reasoning, rather than the form.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To render material; materialize.
• Consisting of matter; of a physical nature; not spiritual: as, material elements; a material body.
• Relating to or connected with matter; concerned with organic nature; affecting corporeal things or interests: as, material existence or well-being.
• Hence Corporeal; sensuous; sensual; gross: as, material delights.
• Pertaining to the matter or subject; of substantial import or consequence; essential; necessary; important.
• Full of matter, or of solid sense and observation.
• In philosophy, consisting in or pertaining to matter in the Aristotelian sense, and not to form; arising from matter of positive fact, and not from logical implication; referring to the object as it exists, and not to distinctions originating in the mind; relating to a word as an object, and not to its meaning.
• In the law of evidence, of legal significance in the cause; having such a relation to the question in controversy that it may or ought to have some influence on the determination of the cause. See immaterial issue, under issue.
• The material modes affect the matter of the enunciation, viz. either the subject or the predicate. For example, in this enunciation, A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, the word bonus or good is the mode of the subject. In this, A rhetorician speaks ornately and copiously, ornately and copiously are the modes of the predicate. Burgersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman.
• noun Component or contributory matter or substance; that of or with which any corporeal thing is or may be constituted, made, or done: as, the materials of the soil or of disintegrated rocks; wool is the material of cloth; building- or writing-materials; war-material.
• noun A constituent principle or element; that which composes or makes a part of anything: as, the material of one's thoughts; the materials of a drama.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The substance or matter of which anything is made or may be made.
• noun any crude, unfinished, or elementary materials that are adapted to use only by processes of skilled labor. .
• transitive verb obsolete To form from matter; to materialize.
• adjective Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical.
• adjective Pertaining to, or affecting, the physical nature of man, as distinguished from the mental or moral nature; relating to the bodily wants, interests, and comforts.
• adjective Of solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of consequence; not be dispensed with; important; significant.
• adjective (Logic.) Pertaining to the matter, as opposed to the form, of a thing. See Matter.
• adjective See under Cause.
• adjective (Law) evidence which conduces to the proof or disproof of a relevant hypothesis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Having to do with matter.
• adjective Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.
• adjective Significant.
• noun Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.
• noun Text written for a specific purpose.
• noun A sample or specimens for study.
• noun Cloth to be made into a garment.
• noun A person who is qualified for a certain position or activity.
• verb obsolete, transitive To form from matter; to materialize.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective directly relevant to a matter especially a law case
• noun things needed for doing or making something
• noun artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers
• adjective concerned with or affecting physical as distinct from intellectual or psychological well-being
• noun information (data or ideas or observations) that can be used or reworked into a finished form
• noun a person judged suitable for admission or employment
• noun the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
• adjective having substance or capable of being treated as fact; not imaginary
• adjective having material or physical form or substance
• adjective concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
• adjective derived from or composed of matter