Word.ws English Dictionary

mattering

mattering is the present participle and gerund of matter.

Meaning of matter

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.
    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
  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...

See all 16 meanings of matter

Noun

mattering (plural matterings)

  1. (rare) The quality of something that matters; significance; importance.
    • But not all matterings matter the same: you value your daily respite at the coffee shop that's long brightened your mornings, but if that shop goes under, you wouldn't—I hope—be facing existential threat.2015, John M. Doris, Talking to Our Selves: Reflection, Ignorance, and Agency
    • Mattering is "a core, universal human need," a necessary component for well-being, Dr. [Gordon] Flett said. But it's tricky to define, he added, because people sometimes confuse it with belonging, self-esteem and social connection.2023, Gail Cornwall, “Want to Believe in Yourself? 'Mattering' Is Key”, in The New York Times

Forms of mattering

pluralmatterings

Questions about mattering

What does mattering mean?
Mattering means the quality of something that matters; significance; importance.
What is mattering the present participle and gerund of?
Mattering is the present participle and gerund of matter.
What part of speech is mattering?
Mattering is a noun.
What is the plural of mattering?
The plural of mattering is matterings.

Words near mattering in the dictionary

  1. Matterfaces
  2. matterful
  3. matterfulness
  4. mattergy
  5. Matterhorn
  6. mattering
  7. matterings
  8. matterless
  9. matterlessness
  10. matterlike
  11. Mattern

Source and license

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