matter

[ mat-er ]
/ ˈmæt ər /

noun

verb (used without object)

to be of importance; signify: It matters little.
Pathology. to suppurate.

Idioms for matter

Origin of matter

1175–1225; Middle English mater( e), materie < Anglo-French, Old French mat( i) ere, materie < Latin māteria woody part of a tree, material, substance, derivative of māter mother1

synonym study for matter

1. Matter, material, stuff, substance refer to that of which physical objects are composed (though all these terms are also used abstractly). Matter, as distinct from mind and spirit, is a broad word that applies to anything perceived, or known to be occupying space: solid matter; gaseous matter. Material usually means some definite kind, quality, or quantity of matter, especially as intended for use: woolen material; a house built of good materials. Stuff, a less technical word, with approximately the same meanings as material, is characterized by being on an informal level when it refers to physical objects ( Dynamite is queer stuff ), and on a literary or poetic one when it is used abstractly ( the stuff that dreams are made on ). Substance is the matter that composes a thing, thought of in relation to its essential properties: a sticky substance.

historical usage of matter

Matter has a spectacular history. The English noun ultimately comes from Latin māteria (also māteriēs ) “timber, wood for building, the woody part of a tree (as opposed to the root or bark).” Māteria is a derivative of māter “mother, source, origin of (material and abstract) things.”
In the first century b.c., the Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher Lucretius and his elder contemporary Cicero, statesman and man of letters, began using māteria in the sense “any substance that makes up a physical object,” also “the basic substance of the physical universe,” a translation of Greek hýlē “timber, firewood, wood for building.” Two hundred years earlier, Aristotle was using hýlē in the extended sense “the basic substance of the physical universe, matter,” prefiguring the Romans.
Māteria maintained its original, pre-Aristotelian sense “wood” in Portuguese, becoming madeira by regular phonetic change. The island of Madeira is so called because it is (or was) thickly wooded, and the fortified wine originating on that island is known as Madeira or Madeira wine (first occurring in English at the end of the 16th century). Some would claim that, more than wood, wine is the basic substance, or stuff, of life.

OTHER WORDS FROM matter

mat·ter·ful, adjective mat·ter·less, adjective non·mat·ter, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH matter

madder matter

Example sentences from the Web for matters

British Dictionary definitions for matters

matter
/ (ˈmætə) /

noun

verb (intr)

to be of consequence or importance
to form and discharge pus

Word Origin for matter

C13 (n), C16 (vb): from Latin māteria cause, substance, esp wood, or a substance that produces something else; related to māter mother

Medical definitions for matters

matter
[ mătər ]

n.

Something that occupies space and can be perceived by one or more senses.
A specific type of substance.
Discharge or waste, such as pus or feces, from a living organism.

Scientific definitions for matters

matter
[ mătər ]

Something that has mass. Most of the matter in the universe is composed of atoms which are themselves composed of subatomic particles. See also energy state of matter.

Cultural definitions for matters

matter

In physics, something that has mass and is distinct from energy. (See phases of matter.)

Idioms and Phrases with matters

matter