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source material

American  

noun

  1. original, authoritative, or basic materials utilized in research, as diaries or manuscripts.


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.

Melvoin acknowledged that good lessons and education source material can be found on popular social media and YouTube.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026

Those vignettes became source material for her new music.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

There’s no possibility, however, that the Nintendo source material will leave your mind during 2023’s animated smash “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” or its sequel, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Tracy said he wanted to respect the source material, but without feeling constricted by it.

From Barron's • Mar. 1, 2026

This was primary source material, research papers based on direct experimental data, involved theoretical constructions utilizing a complex vocabulary and containing a wealth of original ideas—and he was breaking his head on it.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

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