Meaning & use
non-material
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparableformal
Not made of physical matter and impossible to touch, such as an idea, feeling or service.
Grammar: Usually either true or false of something, so it is not normally compared.
Patterns
- non-material benefits
Respect and friendship are non-material rewards that money cannot buy.
Philosophers have long debated whether the mind is non-material.
The charity measures both material and non-material improvements in people's lives.
adjectivenot comparablebusinesslegal
Not important enough to affect a decision or outcome, especially in accounting or law.
Grammar: Often appears in professional reports before a noun: a non-material error.
Patterns
- a non-material difference
The auditors found only non-material errors in the accounts.
The change was non-material, so the contract stayed in force.
Minor typing mistakes are non-material and need no correction.
Common combinations
- non-material benefits
- Job satisfaction is one of the non-material benefits of the role.
- non-material damage
- The court awarded compensation for non-material damage such as distress.
- non-material culture
- Language and customs form part of a society's non-material culture.
- non-material change
- The supplier made a non-material change to the delivery schedule.
- non-material needs
- People also have non-material needs, like belonging and purpose.
Synonyms and how they differ
- intangible
- Intangible stresses that something cannot be touched or measured, and it is the usual choice for things like brand value.
- immaterial
- Immaterial can mean irrelevant, which is a different focus from non-material's simple absence of physical form.
- abstract
- Abstract describes an idea separate from concrete things, whereas non-material is a plainer contrast with the physical.
Opposites
Word family
- material noun
- the matter something is made from
- materialism noun
- strong interest in possessions over spiritual values
- materially adverb
- in a significant or physical way
- immaterial adjective
- unimportant, or not made of matter
Commonly confused: non-material or immaterial?
non-material vs immaterial
Immaterial more often means unimportant to a question, whereas non-material usually describes something that is not physical.
Practice
Which of these is a non-material reward for volunteering?
Choose one answer.
A sense of purpose is a feeling, not a physical thing. The other options are all objects or vouchers you can hold.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “non-material”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.