Meaning of matter | Babel Free

Definitions

1. matter (the basic structural component of the universe)
2. Material; substance.
   countable, uncountable
3. Anything with mass and volume.
   countable, uncountable
4. A surname.
5. subject (topic; particular area of study)
6. Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.
   countable, uncountable
7. To be of importance: "Love is most nearly itself / When here and now cease to matter" (T.S. Eliot).
8. A kind of substance.
   countable, uncountable
9. In fact; actually.
10. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.
    countable, uncountable
11. So far as that is concerned; as for that.
12. Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
    countable, uncountable
13. Regardless of: "Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take, / No matter where it's going" (Edna St. Vincent Millay).
14. An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.
    countable, uncountable
15. Something that occupies space, has mass, and can exist ordinarily as a solid, liquid, or gas.
16. An approximate amount or extent.
    countable, uncountable
17. variant crystalline structure in a chemical compound. — allomorphic, adj.
18. Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.
    countable
19. the quality of certain substances to exist in more than one form, with different properties in each form. — allotropic, allotropical, adj.
20. Essence; pith; embodiment.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
21. Philosophy. the doctrine that all matter has life. — hylozoist, n. — hylozoistic, adj.
22. (The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
23. 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.
24. Pus.
    countable, dated, uncountable
25. Chemistry and Geology. the study of the flow and deformation of colloids, especially pastes. — rheologist, n. — rheologic, rheological, adj.
26. Importance.
    uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“vegetable matter”

“He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.”

“Something is the matter with him.”

“The diplomats met to discuss state matters.”

“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.”

“Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name / Shall be the copious matter of my song.”

“Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I stayed for a matter of months.”

“No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.”

“Away he goes, […] a matter of seven miles.”

“[…] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.”

“Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.”

“He is the matter of virtue.”

“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.”

“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?”

CEFR level