materialism

American  

[muh-teer-ee-uh-liz-uhm] / məˈtɪər i əˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

2. the philosophical theory that regards matter and its motions as constituting the universe, and all phenomena, including those of mind, as due to material agencies.

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materialism British  

/ məˈtɪərɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. interest in and desire for money, possessions, etc, rather than spiritual or ethical values

2. philosophy the monist doctrine that matter is the only reality and that the mind, the emotions, etc, are merely functions of it Compare idealism dualism See also identity theory

3. ethics the rejection of any religious or supernatural account of things

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materialism Cultural  

1. In philosophy, the position that nothing exists except matter — things that can be measured or known through the senses. Materialists deny the existence of spirit, and they look for physical explanations for all phenomena. Thus, for example, they trace mental states to the brain or nervous system, rather than to the spirit or the soul. Marxism, because it sees human culture as the product of economic forces, is a materialist system of beliefs.

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Other Word Forms

• antimaterialism noun
• materialist noun
• materialistic adjective
• materialistically adverb

Etymology

Origin of materialism

From the New Latin word māteriālismus, dating back to 1740–50. See material, -ism

Example Sentences

Despite the North’s social progress in guaranteeing universal income, health care and child care, Lucca is unmoored by its intrinsic materialism and spiritual chaos.

From Washington Post

All is made of atoms, a claim that leads to a brief overview of the history of materialism.

From Washington Post

He was a marvelous paradox: an alienated Everyman, a dignified buffoon, an avatar of ordinary Italianness menaced on one side by modern materialism and on the other by the encrusted legacies of feudalism and fascism.

From New York Times

Like his mentor, John Paul II, Pope Benedict believed there was a completely Christian alternative to the humanistic philosophies of the 20th Century: Marxism, materialism and liberalism.

From BBC

Ratzinger saw their disrespect and unruliness as part and parcel of a general societal descent into moral decay, materialism and atheism.

From Los Angeles Times