the aggregate of things used or needed in any business, undertaking, or operation (distinguished from personnel).
Military. arms, ammunition, and equipment in general.
From French, dating back to 1805–15; see origin at material
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Those wars have often turned, perhaps more than any other factor, on industrial attrition, as each side strains to maintain the flow of matériel like tanks and antiaircraft munitions that keep it in the fight.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2023
He was not soliciting matériel for them, he added.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2022
Japan had lost more than 30,000 of its most experienced ground troops and fliers, and a heavy toll in ships, planes and irreplaceable matériel.
From New York Times ● Nov. 13, 2022
Japan, which has forsworn combat since the end of World War II, had not sent military matériel to another country in the midst of fighting a war in more than 75 years.
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2022
His list of matériel liberated from the Union Army during the 1862 Shenandoah campaign included “six handkerchiefs, two and three quarter dozen neckties, and one bottle of red ink.”
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Earlier this year, Somalia — whose seaports, airports and military bases have been used for Emirati materiel transfers, investigators say — severed bilateral agreements with the UAE.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
"The RDF has introduced advanced military equipment to the battlefield in eastern DRC, including GPS jamming systems, air defense equipment, drones, and additional materiel," the statement said.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
In World War II, the high court reaffirmed that federal contractors could not be obstructed by local lawsuits for producing materiel for national defense.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Every March 27 he oversees a parade of troops and materiel in the capital Naypyidaw for Armed Forces Day, standing on an open-top jeep and festooned with his many military and civilian awards.
From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025
Dictatorially extending Andean verticality, the imperium shuttled people and materiel in and out of every Andean crevice.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
