The definition of matter is what something is made of, what all physical things are made of, or something important or a problem.
(noun)See matter in Webster's New World College Dictionary
noun
Origin: ME matiere < OFr < L materia, material, stuff, wood (< base of mater, mother), orig., the growing trunk of a tree
intransitive verb
See matter in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
Origin:
Origin: Middle English
Origin: , from Old French matere
Origin: , from Latin māteria, wood, timber, matter
Origin: , from māter, mother (because the woody part was seen as the source of growth); see māter- in Indo-European roots
.See matter in Ologies
Matter
See also materials, properties of;physics.
variant crystalline structure in a chemical compound. —allomorphic, adj.
the quality of certain substances to exist in more than one form, with different properties in each form. — allotropic, allotropical, adj.
Philosophy. the doctrine that all matter has life. —hylozoist, n. —hylozoistic, adj.
1. the philosophical theory that regards matter and its phenomena as the only reality and explains all occurrences, including the mental, as due to material agencies.
2. attention to or emphasis on material objects, needs, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of intellectual and spiritual values. —materialist, n. —materialistic, adj.
Metaphysics. any of various theories holding that there is only one basic substance or principle that is the ground of reality. —monist, n. — monistic, monistical, adj.
Chemistry and Geology. the study of the flow and deformation of colloids, especially pastes. —rheologist, n. —rheologic, rheological, adj.
Obsolete, the branch of physics that studies the properties of matter. Also called somatics.
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