Word.ws English Dictionary

matter

Syllables: mat·terUK/ˈmætə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈmatə/

matter noun: anything with mass and volume.

Noun

matter (countable and uncountable, plural matters)

  1. Anything with mass and volume.
  2. 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. Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
  6. 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.
    Synonyms:
    res
  7. 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] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC
  8. (countable) 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.
  9. (obsolete) Essence; pith; embodiment.
    • He is the matter of virtue.1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince
  10. (obsolete) (The) 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: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC
  11. (dated) Pus.
  12. (uncountable) 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 Chief: And Other Poems, page 211

Verb

matter (third-person singular simple present matters, present participle mattering, simple past and past participle mattered)

  1. (intransitive, stative) 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.
    Synonyms:
    signify
  2. (Caribbean, England, regional, transitive) 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: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […]...
  3. (archaic, intransitive) 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 Arcadia], London...

Proper noun capitalized: Matter

Matter (plural Matters)

  1. A surname.

matter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

matter in Hindi

basic structural component of the universe
पदार्थ padārth, माद्दा māddā
kind of substance
पदार्थ padārth
situation, condition, subject or affair
बात bāt, विषय viṣay
reason for concern
कारण kāraṇ

matter in Tamil

basic structural component of the universe
பொருள் poruḷ
to be important
தேவையான tēvaiyāṉa

matter in Marathi

basic structural component of the universe
पदार्थ padārtha

matter in Urdu

basic structural component of the universe
مادَّہ mādda
situation, condition, subject or affair
بات bāt, مُعامَلَہ mu'āmala
More languagesFewer languages
matter in Bengali
পদার্থ podartho
matter in Telugu
పదార్థము padārthamu
matter in Malayalam
ദ്രവ്യം dravyaṁ
matter in Kannada
ದ್ರವ್ಯ dravya
matter in Punjabi
ਪਦਾਰਥ padārath
matter in Gujarati
પદાર્થ padārth, બાબત bābat, વાત vāt
matter in Odia
ପଦାର୍ଥ padārtha
matter in Sanskrit
द्रव्यम् dravyam
matter in Sinhala
පදාර්ථය padārthaya
matter in Assamese
পদাৰ্থ podartho
matter in Nepali
पदार्थ padārtha
matter in Pashto
ماده mādá
matter in Tagalog
butang, likhatas
matter in Arabic
مَادَّة mādda, أَمْر ʔamr, قَضِيَّة qaḍiyya, جِسْم jism
matter in Malay
jirim
matter in Indonesian
materi
matter in Thai
สสาร sà-sǎan, ธาตุ tâat, วัตถุ wát-tù, เรื่อง rʉ̂ʉang
matter in Vietnamese
vật chất, việc
matter in Myanmar
ဒြပ် drap

Examples of matter in a sentence

  • Thy name / Shall be the copious matter of my song.1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert...
  • Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus xviii:22:
  • Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
  • 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...

All 40 example sentences with matter

Synonyms of matter

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of matter

Forms of matter

Noun
pluralmatters
Verb
third-person singular presentmatters
present participlemattering
past participlemattered
pastmattered
Proper noun
pluralMatters

Plural of matter: matters

Origin of matter

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”).

Words formed from matter

Phrases with matter

48 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with matter

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about matter

What does matter mean?
Matter means anything with mass and volume.
What is matter in Hindi?
Matter in Hindi is पदार्थ (padārth), माद्दा (māddā), कारण (kāraṇ). See Matter meaning in Hindi.
How do you use matter in a sentence?
Thy name / Shall be the copious matter of my song.
What part of speech is matter?
Matter can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce matter?
Matter is pronounced /ˈmætə/ (UK).
What is the plural of matter?
The plural of matter is matters.

Words near matter in the dictionary

  1. mattedness
  2. Mattei
  3. Matteis
  4. Mattel
  5. matteness
  6. matter
  7. matter at hand
  8. Matter of Britain
  9. matter of course
  10. matter of fact
  11. matter of factly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matter (page history and authors); Matter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-matter.ogg.

Cite this entry: “matter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/matter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.