materialize
Americanverb (used without object)
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materializes,
present (3rd person singular)
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materialized,
past participle, past
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materializing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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materializes,
present (3rd person singular)
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materialized,
past participle, past
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materializing
present participle
-
to give material form to; realize.
This year, she materialized her long-held ambition to go to law school.
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to invest with material attributes.
The writer materializes the more abstract ideas with metaphors, making the concepts easier to grasp.
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to make physically perceptible; cause (a spirit or the like) to appear in bodily form.
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to render materialistic.
verb
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(intr) to become fact; actually happen
our hopes never materialized
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to invest or become invested with a physical shape or form
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to cause (a spirit, as of a dead person) to appear in material form or (of a spirit) to appear in such form
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(intr) to take shape; become tangible
after hours of discussion, the project finally began to materialize
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physics to form (material particles) from energy, as in pair production
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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materializesimple
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materializessimple
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have materializedperfect
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has materializedperfect
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am materializingprogressive
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are materializingprogressive
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is materializingprogressive
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have been materializingperfect progressive
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has been materializingperfect progressive
Past
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materializedsimple
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had materializedperfect
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was materializingprogressive
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were materializingprogressive
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had been materializingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of materialize
Explanation
When you materialize, you show up suddenly after being missing, unborn, or unseen. Think of Harry Potter removing his invisibility cloak. He materializes. Living things aren't the only things that materialize. Car keys and reading glasses materialize when you've been searching for them for a while and then they are suddenly there on the table. If you're lucky an unexpected business deal will materialize. Like material, the word is related to the Latin word meaning "matter." Matter, is, of course, all the stuff of this earth, anything and everything that takes form. So to materialize is to take form.
Vocabulary lists containing materialize
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Lightning Thief
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
The remarks also came far in advance of the next meeting, before new economic developments could materialize.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Whether this scenario is going to materialize, I don’t know, but this is a plausible scenario.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
If it did, expectations for a strong rebound this fall may not materialize.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
If a September rate hike doesn’t materialize, investors can’t keep demanding higher yields on concerns the Fed hasn’t got inflation under control, the strategist argued.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Then the bows of three boats began to materialize out of the gloaming, just beyond the railroad bridge.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Istanbul materializes as a still, dreamlike place in this distinctly modern thriller.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
“Bottom line, I like treating this weakness as an opportunity rather than a warning, with my expectation being for a push back to new highs before a choppier period materializes into September,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
A bright blue first-place ribbon materializes and becomes the perfect accessory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Even those whose families migrated here seeking a “better life” can speak to how uneven the American dream materializes across class, race and country of origin.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
The landscape materializes, one caress at a time.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
In retrospect, Bonilla, 31, finds great irony in how that initial foray into professional acting fictionally materialized her Mexican immigrant parents’ worst nightmare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
As we drove down to Orikum, a beach town south of Vlore, Aulon spoke at length about the other times they’ve been promised benefits from luxury tourist resorts that never materialized.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Pride said she rewatched the original series, paying particular attention to the shift that materialized in Season 2 when Allen was brought on to overhaul it, as a starting point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Ultimately, the deal between the PGA Tour and PIF never materialized, and the Saudis pulled out of LIV this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
But how had her mother materialized so quickly from Lola’s bedside?
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
The board noted that some upside risks to inflation are materializing, with the Middle East conflict and an AI investment boom stoking demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
He doesn’t see “imminent” danger of any of the three risks he flagged materializing, which is why he’s staying bullish and “tactically positive on risk assets” — for now.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
The bond-market worry about rising prices is materializing on construction sites and on the shelves of home-improvement centers and hardware stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
He acknowledged the Fed “can’t bank on” productivity gains materializing, and said much work needs to be done to evaluate the AI impact before building policy around it.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
In each location the reunion drew large crowds, in which witnesses claimed they saw two ghosts from a bygone era materializing one final time for the benefit of the present generation.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
