materialistic
Americanadjective
-
excessively concerned with physical comforts or the acquisition of wealth and material possessions, rather than with spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.
-
adhering to the philosophy of materialism, a theory that regards matter as constituting the universe and all its phenomena.
Other Word Forms
- antimaterialistic adjective
- antimaterialistically adverb
- materialistically adverb
- nonmaterialistic adjective
- nonmaterialistically adverb
- semimaterialistic adjective
- unmaterialistic adjective
- unmaterialistically adverb
Etymology
Origin of materialistic
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.
Mr. Ennos is hard on the materialistic lifestyle, and this view can be defended.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
He prefers giving flowers, describing the idea of gifting money as "materialistic".
From BBC • Feb. 13, 2026
Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, meant to make us squirm as they uncover our insecurities and the faults in our materialistic facades.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2025
I realized that I’d been pretty materialistic, a “living in the moment” kind of a thing and not really thinking much about the long term.
From Slate • Mar. 9, 2024
It seemed to me that for the Negro to try to save himself he would have to forget himself and try to save a confused, materialistic nation from its own drift toward self-destruction.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
