the aggregate of things used or needed in any business, undertaking, or operation (distinguished from personnel).
Military. arms, ammunition, and equipment in general.
From French, dating back to 1805–15; see origin at material
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both sides made outsize investments in men and matériel to take and hold a relatively small and now-devastated city, which had a prewar population of more than 70,000.
From New York Times • May 24, 2023
“I am very confident that we have delivered the matériel that they need,” he said, “and we’ll continue a pipeline to sustain their operations as well.”
From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2023
But both pieces of equipment have intricacies that are reminders of the complications that come from supplying a military with foreign matériel.
From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2022
The amount of matériel arriving in Ukraine remains a secret, but officials say that the overall flow is very large and has made an enormous difference to the war.
From New York Times • Apr. 6, 2022
His list of matériel liberated from the Union Army during the 1862 Shenandoah campaign included “six handkerchiefs, two and three quarter dozen neckties, and one bottle of red ink.”
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
