raw material
Americannoun
noun
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material on which a particular manufacturing process is carried out
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a person or thing regarded as suitable for some particular purpose
raw material for the army
Etymology
Origin of raw material
First recorded in 1790–1800
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.
It helps, I’ve found, to think about it less as “leftovers” and more as raw material.
From Salon • Apr. 26, 2026
Another social media user has reported that the textile company where their sister-in-law worked has fired 600 out of their 650 personnel, as they cannot import raw material from Australia anymore.
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
Higher prices pushed chocolatiers to use ingredients other than cocoa or develop the raw material in labs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
The problem for data geeks like Savouri, however, and for investors, is the increasingly unreliable raw material that governments are providing them.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
Bombarding the waste uranium with neutrons would allow the United States to “break the bottleneck of this raw material problem,” he promised.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
