materialistic

[muh-teer-ee-uh-lis-tik]

adjective

1. excessively concerned with physical comforts or the acquisition of wealth and material possessions, rather than with spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

2. adhering to the philosophy of materialism, a theory that regards matter as constituting the universe and all its phenomena.

Other Word Forms

• materialistically adverb
• antimaterialistic adjective
• antimaterialistically adverb
• nonmaterialistic adjective
• nonmaterialistically adverb
• semimaterialistic adjective
• unmaterialistic adjective
• unmaterialistically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of materialistic¹

materialist + -ic

Example Sentences

The story originally satirized materialistic baby boomers stymied by shifting gender roles.

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"I always had these yearnings for a lifestyle that was different to the materialistic lifestyle," he explains.

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Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, meant to make us squirm as they uncover our insecurities and the faults in our materialistic facades.

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"I don't have anything particularly sentimental, it's all materialistic, it can be replaced when it gets broken."

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He cares little about materialistic notions of success.

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Related Words

• greedy 
• profane 
• secular 
• sensual 
• temporal