materialist
UK[məˈtɪəriəlɪst]US[məˈtɪriəlɪst]
n
A person who believes that only physical matter and its phenomena are real, and that consciousness, thought, and feeling are merely results of material interactions.
n
A person who is excessively concerned with material possessions and physical comfort, rather than spiritual or intellectual values.
Morpheme Breakdown
material
ist
material
physical substance
ist
person who believes in or practices
Etymology
The word 'materialist' is built upon the Latin root māteria, which originally meant "timber" or the hard substance of a tree trunk. This concrete meaning broadened in philosophical Latin to denote the fundamental "stuff" or substance from which things are made. The suffix -ist, indicating a person who holds a specific doctrine, was attached in the early 18th century to form a term for proponents of philosophical materialism—the theory that matter is the primary constituent of reality. The modern, often pejorative sense describing a person preoccupied with wealth and possessions represents a semantic shift, applying the philosophical focus on physical matter to a lifestyle centered on physical objects.
Analysis
Structure: material (physical substance) + ist (person who believes in or practices)
- material: From Latin māteriālis (of or belonging to matter), from māteria (matter, stuff, timber). Functions as the core root denoting physical substance.
- ist: From Latin -ista, from Greek -istēs (agent suffix). Functions as a noun-forming suffix denoting an adherent to a doctrine or practice.
Examples
The philosopher was a strict materialist who rejected the concept of an immaterial soul.
Critics often accuse modern consumer culture of fostering a generation of materialists.
His materialist outlook led him to value financial success above all else.