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definitions

materialist

[muh-teer-ee-uh-list]
See more synonyms for materialist on Thesaurus.com
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.
adjective
  1. concerned with material things; materialistic.
  2. of or relating to philosophical materialism or its adherents.

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

Related Words for materialist

doubter, questioner, agnostic, pessimist, dissenter, cynic, skeptic, infidel, misanthrope, unbeliever, atheist, heretic, apostate, nihilist, heathen, freethinker, pagan, rationalist, materialist, scoffer

Examples from the Web for materialist

Historical Examples of materialist

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

  • 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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper