matter

To be important.

Noun

  1. Material; substance.

    1. (physics) Anything with mass and volume.

    2. (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

      Antonyms: antimatter

    3. A kind of substance.

      • vegetable matter

    4. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

      • He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.

    5. (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.

  2. An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.
    • Something is the matter with him.
    • The diplomats met to discuss state matters.
    • So in many armies, if the matter ſhould bee tried by duell betvvene tvvo Champions, the victory ſhould goe on the one ſide, & yet if it be tried by the groſſe, it vvould goe on the other ſide: for excellencies goe as it...
  3. An approximate amount or extent.
    • I stayed for a matter of months.
    • No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before. - 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn]...
    • Away he goes, […] a matter of seven miles. - 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […]...
  4. Legal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.
    • Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.
  5. Essence; pith; embodiment.
    • He is the matter of virtue. - 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince:
  6. inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
    • And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife. - 1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […],...
  7. Pus.
  8. Importance.
    • What matter if we unrewarded must strive, / If Wall Street and gamblers around it may thrive? / What matter if we doubly pay for our food / To support the monopolist kings of the road? - 1880, Bernard Nulty, The Patriot...

Origin

From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin māteria (“wood”), from māter (“mother”), in which case cognate with Old Armenian մայր (mayr, “cedar”) and մայրի (mayri, “forest”). Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and mother. Displaced Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”), from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

Forms

matters

Synonyms

material stuff substance hyle

Derived

a little matter a matter another matter anti-matter as a matter of fact as a matter of factly as a matter of law a small matter back matter back-matter baryonic dark matter baryonic matter biomatter body matter bymatter cold dark matter condensed matter condensed matter physicist condensed matter physics dark matter degenerate matter dry matter end matter fact of the matter

Verb

  1. To be important.
    • The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.
    • Sorry for pouring ketchup on your clean white shirt! - Oh, don't worry, it does not matter.
    • As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,[…]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get.[…]I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws...
  2. To care about, to mind; to find important.
    • Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […] - , Folio Society 1973, p.47
    • He matter'd not that, he said; coy maids made the fondest wives […]. - 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LVI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […]...
  3. To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.
    • Each slight sore mattereth. - a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New...

Forms

matters mattering mattered

Synonyms

signify

Derived

all lives matter black lives matter blue lives matter it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right police lives matter what does it matter white lives matter