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materialist

[muh-teer-ee-uh-list]
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noun
  1. a person who is markedly more concerned with material things than with spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.
  2. an adherent of philosophical materialism.
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adjective
  1. concerned with material things; materialistic.
  2. of or relating to philosophical materialism or its adherents.
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Origin of materialist

From the New Latin word māteriālista, dating back to 1660–70. See material, -ist
Related formsma·te·ri·al·is·tic, adjectivean·ti·ma·te·ri·al·ist, noun, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for materialist

Historical Examples

  • But first, let us do so from the materialist's own stand-point.

    Life: Its True Genesis

    R. W. Wright

  • But we put it on the irrefragable logic of the materialist's own premises and conclusions.

  • “The external world,” says the Materialist––“Does not exist,” says the Idealist.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • In short, the cow does fulfill the materialist theory of history: that is why the cow has no history.

    A Miscellany of Men

    G. K. Chesterton

  • It is customary to condemn the American as a materialist because of his worship of success.

    What I Saw in America

    G. K. Chesterton

Word Origin and History for materialist

n.

1660s and after in various philosophical and theological senses, on model of French matérialiste, from material (n.) + -ist. Also cf. materialism.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper