matériel
noun
the aggregate of things used or needed in any business, undertaking, or operation (distinguished from personnel).
matériel
American
[muh-teer-ee-el]
/ məˌtɪər iˈɛl /
Or
materiel
noun
-
the aggregate of things used or needed in any business, undertaking, or operation (distinguished from personnel).
-
Military. arms, ammunition, and equipment in general.
materiel
British
/ məˌtɪərɪˈɛl /
noun
Etymology
Origin of matériel
From French, dating back to 1805–15; see origin at material
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:
Both sides made outsize investments in men and matériel to take and hold a relatively small and now-devastated city, which had a prewar population of more than 70,000.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2023
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
And it remains unclear how far President Vladimir V. Putin intends to press the offensive, or how much more loss of men and matériel his military can absorb without needing a long pause to rebuild.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2022
But both pieces of equipment have intricacies that are reminders of the complications that come from supplying a military with foreign matériel.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 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
The funds have enabled it to purchase fighters’ loyalties, as well as advanced materiel, such as drones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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
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
The materiel includes the advanced Chinese-made drones along with small arms, heavy machine guns, vehicles, artillery, mortars and ammunition, the officials said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
By February 1955, the tunnel was nearly done—complete with its own ventilation system and trolley for moving men and materiel along the full length of the narrow passageway.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
