Word Meanings - MATTER - Book Publishers vocabulary database

That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form. Mansel. (more info) 1. That of which anything is composed; constituent

Additional info about word: MATTER

That which is permanent, or is supposed to be given, and in or upon which changes are effected by psychological or physical processes and relations; -- opposed to form. Mansel. (more info) 1. That of which anything is composed; constituent substance; material; the material or substantial part of anything; the constituent elements of conception; that into which a notion may be analyzed; the essence; the pith; the embodiment. He is the matter of virtue. B. Jonson. 2. That of which the sensible universe and all existent bodies are composed; anything which has extension, occupies space, or is perceptible by the senses; body; substance. Note: Matter is usually divided by philosophical writers into three kinds or classes: solid, liquid, and aëriform. Solid substances are those whose parts firmly cohere and resist impression, as wood or stone. Liquids have free motion among their parts, and easily yield to impression, as water and wine. Aëriform substances are elastic fluids, called vapors and gases, as air and oxygen gas. 3. That with regard to, or about which, anything takes place or is done; the thing aimed at, treated of, or treated; subject of action, discussion, consideration, feeling, complaint, legal action, or the like; theme. "If the matter should be tried by duel." Bacon. Son of God, Savior of men ! Thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song. Milton. Every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. Ex. xviii. 22. 4. That which one has to treat, or with which one has to do; concern; affair; business. To help the matter, the alchemists call in many vanities out of astrology. Bacon. Some young female seems to have carried matters so far, that she is ripe for asking advice. Spectator. 5. Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter no matter, and the like. A prophet some, and some a poet, cry; No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden. 6. Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble. 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. Milton. 7. Amount; quantity; portion; space; -- often indefinite. Away he goes, . . . a matter of seven miles. L' Estrange. I have thoughts to tarry a small matter. Congreve. No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before. Mi lton. 8. Substance excreted from living animal bodies; that which is thrown out or discharged in a tumor, boil, or abscess; pus; purulent substance.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of MATTER)

• Affair
• Matter
• business
• concern
• subject
• topic
• transaction
• Body
• Substance
• mass
• whole
• substantiality
• collectiveness
• assemblage
• collection
• matter
• association
• organization
• Business
• Occupation
• profession
• vocation
• trade
• calling
• office
• employment
• interest
• duty
• affair
• Concern
• Interest
• regard
• anxiety
• institution
• solicitude
• moment
• regret
• sympathy
• sorrow
• context
• Tenor
• treatment
• texture
• composition

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of MATTER)

• Miss
• overlook
• disregard
• despise
• dislike
• contemn
• hate
• loathe
• misconsider
• misconceive
• misestimate
• misjudge
• Welcome
• hail
• approve
• abandon
• abjure
• forget

Related words: (words related to MATTER)

• TREATMENT
  1. The act or manner of treating; management; manipulation; handling; usage; as, unkind treatment; medical treatment. 2. Entertainment; treat. Accept such treatment as a swain affords. Pope.
• DISREGARDFULLY
  Negligently; heedlessly.
• COLLECTIVENESS
  A state of union; mass.
• CALLOSUM
  The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
• TRADE-MARK
  A peculiar distinguishing mark or device affixed by a manufacturer or a merchant to his goods, the exclusive right of using which is recognized by law.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• SORROW
  The uneasiness or pain of mind which is produced by the loss of any good, real or supposed, or by diseappointment in the expectation of good; grief at having suffered or occasioned evil; regret; unhappiness; sadness. Milton. How great
• CALLE
  A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
• MISJUDGE
  To judge erroneously or unjustly; to err in judgment; to misconstrue.
• APPROVEDLY
  So as to secure approbation; in an approved manner.
• ASSOCIATION
  1. The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things. "Some . . . bond of association." Hooker. Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God. Boyle. 2. Mental connection, or that which is
• SUBJECTION
  1. The act of subjecting, or of bringing under the dominion of another; the act of subduing. The conquest of the kingdom, and subjection of the rebels. Sir M. Hale. 2. The state of being subject, or under the power, control, and government
• SORROWED
  Accompanied with sorrow; sorrowful. Shak.
• BUSINESS
  The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal. 7. Care; anxiety; diligence. Chaucer. To do one's business, to ruin one. Wycherley. -- To make one's
• SUBJECTIST
  One skilled in subjective philosophy; a subjectivist.
• SUBJECTNESS
  Quality of being subject.
• ASSOCIATIONIST
  One who explains the higher functions and relations of the soul by the association of ideas; e. g., Hartley, J. C. Mill.
• OFFICEHOLDER
  An officer, particularly one in the civil service; a placeman.
• OCCUPATION
  1. The act or process of occupying or taking possession; actual possession and control; the state of being occupied; a holding or keeping; tenure; use; as, the occupation of lands by a tenant. 2. That which occupies or engages the time
• DISLIKE
  1. To regard with dislike or aversion; to disapprove; to disrelish. Every nation dislikes an impost. Johnson. 2. To awaken dislike in; to displease. "Disliking countenance." Marston. "It dislikes me." Shak.
• UNEMPLOYMENT
  Quality or state of being not employed; -- used esp. in economics, of the condition of various social classes when temporarily thrown out of employment, as those engaged for short periods, those whose trade is decaying, and those least competent.
• GYMNASTICALLY
  In a gymnastic manner.
• HYPERCRITICALLY
  In a hypercritical manner.
• DISINTERESTING
  Uninteresting. "Disinteresting passages." Bp. Warburton.
• SCALLION
  A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
• UNEMPIRICALLY
  Not empirically; without experiment or experience.
• POST OFFICE
  See POST
• ADVOCATION
  The process of removing a cause from an inferior court to the supreme court. Bell. (more info) 1. The act of advocating or pleading; plea; advocacy. The holy Jesus . . . sits in heaven in a perpetual advocation for us. Jer. Taylor. 2. Advowson.
• UNIVOCALLY
  In a univocal manner; in one term; in one sense; not equivocally. How is sin univocally distinguished into venial and mortal, if the venial be not sin Bp. Hall.
• PARABOLICALLY
  1. By way of parable; in a parabolic manner. 2. In the form of a parabola.