materiality

[muh-teer-ee-al-i-tee]

noun

plural

materialities 

1. material nature or quality.

2. something material.

Word History and Origins

Origin of materiality¹

From the Medieval Latin word māteriālitās, dating back to 1520–30. See material, -ity

Example Sentences

Such tool use—notably hand letter-cutting in stone, producing forms like those we see on traditional monuments—stands for “materiality, for slowness, for permanence” in the face of boardroom brainstorming and assembly-line production.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And, literally, across the street, you have Basquiat doing what he is doing, and it’s the opposite: It’s naming, materiality.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Usually, shows of his work focus on his ethereality, like the ‘Monochromes’” — Klein’s single-color canvases — “but his show is anchored in the materiality and the tangible.”

Read more on New York Times

He argued that the “materiality provision” of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was designed to prevent that.

Read more on Seattle Times

National and state Republican committees argued the date requirement is useful in detecting fraud and that the materiality provision of the Civil Rights Act was inapplicable.

Read more on Seattle Times