matter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmæt.ə/
ipa: /ˈmæt.ɚ/
ipa: [-ɾ.ɚ]
homophone: madder (some US pronunciations)
rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
Forms: form: matters
Etymology: From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin materia (“wood”), from mater (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother.
Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).
Senses: topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Material; substance.
Anything with mass and volume.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Material; substance.
Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.
antonyms: antimatter
examples: text: vegetable matter
glosses: Material; substance.
A kind of substance.
examples: text: He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.
glosses: Material; substance.
Printed material, especially in books or magazines.
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Material; substance.
Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
examples: text: Something is the matter with him.
text: The diplomats met to discuss state matters.
text: So in many armies, if the matter ſhould bee tried by duell betvvene tvvo Champions, the victory ſhould goe on the one ſide, & yet if it be tried by the groſſe, it vvould goe on the other ſide: for excellencies goe as it vvere by chance, but kinds goe by a more certaine Nature, as by Diſcipline in vvarre.
ref: 1597, Francis [Bacon], “Of the Colours of Good and Evill, a Fragment”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland […], published 1632, →OCLC:
text: Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name / Shall be the copious matter of my song.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus xviii:22:
text: The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
ref: 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, in AV Club:
glosses: An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.
examples: text: I stayed for a matter of months.
text: No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.
ref: 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC:
text: Away he goes, […] a matter of seven miles.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
text: […] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.
ref: 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 47:
glosses: An approximate amount or extent.
examples: text: Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.
topics: law
glosses: Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.
examples: text: He is the matter of virtue.
ref: 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince:
glosses: Essence; pith; embodiment.
examples: text: And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife.
ref: 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC:
glosses: (The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Pus.
examples: text: What matter if we unrewarded must strive, / If Wall Street and gamblers around it may thrive? / What matter if we doubly pay for our food / To support the monopolist kings of the road?
ref: 1880, Bernard Nulty, The Patriot Chief: And Other Poems, page 211:
glosses: Importance.
Synonyms: material
stuff
substance
Derived terms: word: a little matter
word: a matter
word: another matter
word: anti-matter
english: actually
translation: actually
word: as a matter of fact
word: as a matter of factly
word: as a matter of law
english: somewhat, slightly
translation: somewhat, slightly
word: a small matter
word: back-matter
word: back matter
word: baryonic dark matter
word: baryonic matter
word: biomatter
word: body matter
word: bymatter
word: cold dark matter
word: condensed matter
word: condensed matter physicist
word: condensed matter physics
word: dark matter
word: degenerate matter
word: dry matter
word: end matter
word: fact of the matter
word: fæcal matter
word: faecal matter
word: fecal matter
english: in regards to
translation: in regards to
word: for that matter
word: front matter
word: front-matter
word: gray matter
word: grey matter
word: hot dark matter
word: inscribed matter
word: let the matter drop
word: light matter
word: magmatter
word: matter at hand
word: matterative
word: matterful
word: matterless
word: matterlike
word: matternet
word: Matter of Britain
word: matter of course
word: matter-of-fact
word: matter of fact
word: matter-of-factish
word: matter-of-factly
word: matter-of-factness
word: matter of law
word: matter of life and death
word: matter of life or death
word: matter of record
word: matter of time
word: matter painting
word: mattersome
word: matterwave
word: mattery
word: mind over matter
word: mirror matter
word: neutron-degenerate matter
word: neutron matter
word: no laughing matter
word: no matter
word: no matter how one slices it
word: no matter that
word: no matter what
word: non-baryonic dark matter
word: nonmatter
word: organic matter
word: overmatter
word: particulate matter
word: phase of matter
word: printed matter
word: programmable matter
word: proto-matter
word: protomatter
word: quark matter
word: shadow matter
word: some little matter
word: some small matter
word: starmatter
word: state of matter
word: strange matter
word: strange quark matter
word: strongly symmetric matter
word: subject-matter
word: subject matter
word: subject matter jurisdiction
word: take matters into one's own hands
word: take the matter into one's own hands
word: thank you for your attention to this matter
word: upon the matter
word: upon the whole matter
word: warm dark matter
word: weakly symmetric matter
word: what is the matter
word: what's the matter
word: white matter