source material
Americannoun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An improvement on the source material: HBO’s new show Lanterns takes a character with an embarrassing history and makes him fascinating.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Unlike some of Nolan’s other films,” she wrote, “‘The Odyssey’ is not boring, thanks to the source material, which is impossible to mess up entirely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Regardless, Minghella’s film is an utterly beautiful and romantic story, a daunting feat considering how equally beautiful, though different, its source material is.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Jefferson still had his nose in his books—his dome is based on Palladio’s reconstruction of the Roman temple of Vesta—but he transformed his source material, much as Shakespeare did, to serve his own purposes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
This was primary source material, research papers based on direct experimental data, involved theoretical constructions utilizing a complex vocabulary and containing a wealth of original ideas—and he was breaking his head on it.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
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.
