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Material vs Handwavium - What's the difference?

material | handwavium |

As nouns the difference between material and handwavium

is that material is material (matter which may be shaped or manipulated) while handwavium is (informal|fiction) any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties.

material

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having to do with matter; consisting of matter.
    • This compound has a number of interesting material properties.
  • * Whewell
    • the material elements of the universe
  • Worldly, as opposed to spiritual.
    • Don't let material concerns get in the way of living a happy life.
  • Significant.
    • You've made several material contributions to this project.
    This is the most material fact in this lawsuit.
  • * Evelyn
    • discourse, which was always material , never trifling
  • * John Locke
    • I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose.

    Antonyms

    * (wordly) spiritual * (significant) immaterial

    Derived terms

    * material breach * material cause * material girl * material world

    Noun

    (wikipedia material) (en noun)
  • (senseid)Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=Lee A. Groat, volume=100, issue=2, page=128
    • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Gemstones , passage=Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)}}
  • (senseid)Text written for a specific purpose.
  • (senseid)A sample or specimens for study.
  • *
    • With fresh material', taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the '''material''' examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium ' material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • (senseid)Cloth to be made into a garment.
  • *
    • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.
  • (senseid)A person who is qualified for a certain position or activity.
  • (senseid)Related data of various kinds, especially if collected as the basis for a document or book.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
    • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • The substance that something is made or composed of.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , passage=As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * materialism * materialist * material culture * material science * materials science * postmaterialism * postmaterialist * raw material

    Related terms

    * matter

    See also

    * materiel

    Verb

    (materiall)
  • (obsolete) To form from matter; to materialize.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is left in the same state after death as before it was materialled unto life.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    handwavium

    English

    (wikipedia handwavium)

    Noun

    (-)
  • (informal, fiction) Any hypothetical but unobtainable material with desirable engineering properties.
  • * 2008 , "Jacey Bedford", Handwavium'' (on newsgroup ''rec.arts.sf.composition )
    • My handwavium was an invented mineral, but - reading up - what about platinum? Could I substitute platinum for handwavium?
  • * 2008 , Alexander Jablokov, The Boarder'', in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , volume 114, number 3 (March)
    • He puzzled over the spacecraft and their handwavium drives. "The thousand and one nights of Scheherazade, told by an engineering student who failed his graduation exams," was his literary judgment.
  • * 2011 , Imogen Howson, Blood of the Volcano (page 167)
    • She writes romantic fantasy and science fiction, and makes liberal use of the substance known as handwavium .