Word Confusion: Material versus Materiel

Posted September 7, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
9 Dec 2022

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A pair of heterographs (a subset of homophone), material versus materiel are both things. Only . . .

Material is whatever something is made from.

Materiel is supplies. It’s primarily military equipment and supplies, but can also refer to office equipment and supplies.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Material	Materiel
Material Ecology by ercument gorgul from an exhibit in 2008 at the Museum of Modern Art; it’s under the CC BY 2.5 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Loading Materiel by Petty Officer 1st Class Dolores L. Anglin, US Navy, DoD, is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Noun Plural for noun: materials	Noun Plural: materiels Alternative spelling: matériel
Adjective: [Attrib.] Denoting or consisting of physical objects rather than the mind or spirit Concerned with physical needs or desires Concerned with the matter of reasoning, not its form Important Essential Relevant [Law; of evidence or a fact] Significant, influential, or relevant, especially to the extent of determining a cause or affecting a judgment Noun: The matter from which a thing is or can be made [Usually materials] Things needed for an activity [With adjective or noun modifier] A person of a specified quality or suitability Facts, information, or ideas for use in creating a book or other work Items, especially songs or jokes, comprising a performer’s act Cloth or fabric	[Military] Arms, ammunition, and equipment in general The aggregate of things used or needed in any business, undertaking, or operation
Examples:
Adjective: It’s a material world. She provides them with moral and material support. Material living standards have risen since the 1890s. Most political conflicts lack mathematical or material certitude. The insects did not do any material damage to the crop. He has information that could be material to a murder inquiry. Noun: Goats can eat more or less any plant material. Those are highly flammable materials. It includes materials such as brass, copper, and iron. Jenny! We’re all out of cleaning materials. He’s not really Olympic material. There is much good material here for priests to use in sermons. The band is playing original material. I need a piece of dark material. I want specific kinds of dress materials.	He deals with the shipping of materiel south into the battle zone. The goal was to have medical units deploy with their required materiel and equipment. In each case, equipment and materiel will be pre-positioned in several places around the world. The air-drop equipment is intended to air drop paratroopers, materiel, and cargo. Military materiel is landed via a bow ramp and also via assault boats through the doors of the flooded well. It also made it impossible to timely form attack forces and provide them with essential supplies and materiel. Do we have all the materiels we need for the conference?
Derivatives:
Adjective: materialist, materialistic Adverb: materialistically, materially Noun: materialisation [British], materialism, materialist, materiality, materialization Verb: materialise [British], materialize
History of the Word:
Late Middle English in the sense relating to matter is from the late Latin materialis, an adjective from the Latin materia meaning matter.	Early 19th century, from the French matériel; it’s an adjective used as a noun.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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