materialism

English

Etymology

From French matérialisme. By surface analysis, material +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /məˈtɪəɹiəlɪzəm/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ma‧te‧ri‧al‧ism

Noun

materialism (countable and uncountable, plural materialisms)

1. Constant concern over material possessions and wealth; a great or excessive regard for worldly concerns.
   • 2010, Nuala O'Faolain, “An Ugly Little War”, in A More Complex Truth:

     We accept that a third of the population live on the poverty line. We accept that only a handful of the most exceptional of the children of the poor will make it through to a third-level education. We accept massive examples of greed and dishonesty in public life. We except the values of materialism. What do we expect then—to be left un-harassed, we who have all the privileges?

2. (philosophy) The philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical.
   • 1814, Joseph S. Buckminster, The Sermons by the Late Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, Sermon I:

     The result of the labours of philosophy appeared to be a total scepticism on the most important subjects of hu man duty and expectation. The irregular fears of a future state had been supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus; and this system—if system it may be called, which left them without a God, a providence, a morality, or a retribution—was the fashionable philosophy of the more cultivated classes.

   • 1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience […] ‎^[1], London: Longmans, Green & Co.:

     Medical materialism seems indeed a good appellation for the too simple-minded system of thought which we are considering. ... All such mental over-tensions, it says, are, when you come to the bottom of the matter, mere affairs of diathesis (auto-intoxications most probably), due to the perverted action of various glands which physiology will yet discover.

   • 2015 January 26, Michael Egnor, “Aristotle on the Immateriality of Intellect and Will”, in Evolution News‎^[2], retrieved 2021-01-11:

     With the rise of Cartesian and Hobbesian mechanical philosophy and materialism in the 16th and 17th centuries, the classical argument for the immateriality of the intellect and will was simply ignored and then forgotten.

3. (obsolete, rare) Material substances in the aggregate; matter.

Synonyms

• (philosophy): physicalism
• (philosophy): philosophical materialism
• (philosophy): thingism

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "constant concern..."): spirituality
• (antonym(s) of "philosophy"): idealism

Derived terms

• dialectical materialism
• eliminative materialism
• historical materialism
• neo-materialism
• new materialism
• philosophical materialism
• postmaterialism
• scientific materialism
• speculative materialism
• transcendental materialism

 

Related terms

• materialistic
• materialist

Translations

concern over material possessions

• Belarusian: матэрыялі́зм m (materyjalízm)
• Catalan: materialisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: materialismus (cs) m
• Finnish: materialismi (fi)
• French: matérialisme (fr) m
• Georgian: მატერიალიზმი (maṭerializmi)
• German: Materialismus (de) m
• Greek: υλισμός (el) m (ylismós)
• Ido: materialismo (io)
• Interlingua: materialismo
• Irish: ábharachas m, saoltacht f (familiar)
• Italian: materialismo (it)
• Khmer: សម្ភារនិយម (sâmphéarnĭymô)
• Polish: materializm (pl) m
• Portuguese: materialismo (pt) m
• Romanian: materialism (ro) n
• Russian: материали́зм (ru) m (materialízm)
• Spanish: materialismo (es)
• Tagalog: hilig-makalupa
• Thai: วัตถุนิยม (th) (wát-tù-ní-yom), สสารนิยม
• Ukrainian: матеріалі́зм (uk) m (materialízm)
• Volapük: materim

philosophical belief

• Arabic: مَادِّيَّة f (māddiyya)
• Armenian: մատերիալիզմ (hy) (materializm)
• Belarusian: матэрыялі́зм m (materyjalízm)
• Bengali: বস্তুবাদ (bostubad)
• Catalan: materialisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 唯物主義／唯物主义 (zh) (wéiwùzhǔyì), 唯物論／唯物论 (zh) (wéiwùlùn)

• Esperanto: materialismo, materiismo
• Finnish: materialismi (fi)
• French: matérialisme (fr) m
• German: Materialismus (de) m
• Greek: υλισμός (el) m (ylismós)
• Irish: ábharachas m
• Japanese: 唯物論 (ja) (yuibutsu-ron), 唯物主義 (ja) (ゆいぶつしゅぎ, yuibutsushugi)
• Khmer: លោកាយតទិដ្ឋិ (loŭkaytâtĭdthĕ)
• Polish: materializm (pl) m
• Portuguese: materialismo (pt) m
• Romanian: materialism (ro) n
• Russian: материали́зм (ru) m (materialízm)
• Spanish: materialismo (es) m
• Swedish: materialism (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagkamakasangkap
• Thai: วัตถุนิยม (th) (wát-tù-ní-yom), สสารนิยม
• Ukrainian: матеріалі́зм (uk) m (materialízm)
• Volapük: stöfim (vo)

See also

• idealism
• physicalism

Further reading

• “materialism”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “materialism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• "materialism" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 197.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French matérialisme.

Noun

materialism n (uncountable)

1. materialism

Declension

declension of materialism (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) materialism	materialismul
genitive/dative	(unui) materialism	materialismului
vocative	materialismule

Swedish

Etymology

materiell +‎ -ism

Noun

materialism c

1. materialism

Declension

Declension of materialism
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	materialism	materialismen	—	—
Genitive	materialisms	materialismens	—	—

Related terms

• materialist
• materialistisk