materialist

American  

[muh-teer-ee-uh-list] / məˈtɪər i ə lɪst /

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.

Other Word Forms

• antimaterialist noun
• materialistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of materialist

From the New Latin word māteriālista, dating back to 1660–70. See material, -ist

Example Sentences

Does the widespread adoption of materialist ideas sabotage the hope of living meaningfully?

From The Wall Street Journal

In one of several misleading rhetorical sleights, Ms. Goldstein credits the materialist focus of Greek philosophy with inventing the secular, a modern concept.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Now that’s a Nüwü spiritual way of looking at things, as opposed to this materialist representation of monetary wealth and consumption and greed.”

From Los Angeles Times

The empirical challenge to the materialist position from terminal lucidity implies that consciousness can exist independently of the brain but isn’t necessarily “evidence for the human soul.”

From The Wall Street Journal

I became a child of the Enlightenment, a materialist, confident the alternatives amounted to superstition.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• agnostic
• cynic
• dissenter
• doubter
• pessimist
• questioner