material1ty

[Fr. matérial ité, as if from a Lat. material it as; Ital. material ità; Sp. mater i. alidad.] 1. The quality or state of being material, or consisting of matter; material existence; corporeity, "Nor had compacted earth, nor rock, nor stone, Nor gro materiality been known." Byrom: An Epistle to a Gentleman in the Temple. †2. The quality of being material or important; importance, moment, weight; as, the materiality of evidence. ma-tër-I-al-ize, v . t . [Eng. material ; -ize .] 1. To reduce or bring to a state of matter or material existence; to invest with matter or corporeity; to make material. "By this means (the invention of letters] we mater i alize our ideas, and make them as lasting as the ink and paper, their vehicles."- Guardian, No. 172. 2. To consider or explain by the laws or rules which are appropriate or peculiar to matter. 3. To cause to a ume a character appropriate to material things; to occupy with material instead of moral or religious interests.