source material
Americannoun
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.
The 42-year-old says he was seeking that “smug feeling” of knowing source material when he sat down to watch the film on the biggest, loudest screen he could find.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
None have measured up to their source material, although Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music in the 2024 prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” contributed the best ditties to the studio’s songbook in decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Jefferson still had his nose in his books—his dome is based on Palladio’s reconstruction of the Roman temple of Vesta—but he transformed his source material, much as Shakespeare did, to serve his own purposes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
I cannot make the straight-faced argument that the worst “Scary Movies” were held back by their source material.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Pulcinella is sparklingly inventive with its source material but it is nevertheless the musical equivalent of placing the Art Deco spire of Manhattan's Chrysler Building on top of Christopher Wren's Greenwich Hospital.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
