raw material

American  

noun

1. material before being processed or manufactured into a final form.

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raw material British  

noun

1. material on which a particular manufacturing process is carried out

2. a person or thing regarded as suitable for some particular purpose

   raw material for the army

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Etymology

Origin of raw material

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

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

It mines bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, refines it into alumina powder, and operates smelters that turn alumina to finished aluminum.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

This gas acts as the raw material for building new stars.

From Science Daily • Mar. 30, 2026

“We think that raw material issues are likely to cause some earnings growth uncertainties,” Zekauskas wrote in a note to clients.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026

I don’t know how to write poetry, but there was a Spanish bookseller with a real genius for rhyme from whom I ordered poems and songs—anything whose raw material was paper and ink.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende