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Material vs Medium - What's the difference?

material | medium |

As adjectives the difference between material and medium

is that material is having to do with matter; consisting of matter while medium is arithmetically average.

As nouns the difference between material and medium

is that material is (matter)Matter which may be shaped or manipulated, particularly in making something while medium is the nature of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.

As a verb material

is to form from matter; to materialize.

As an adverb medium is

to a medium extent.

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

    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

    * ----

    medium

    English

    (wikipedia medium)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • The nature of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.
  • The material or empty space through which signals, waves or forces pass.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Whether any other liquors, being made mediums , cause a diversity of sound from water, it may be tried.
  • * Denham
  • I must bring together / All these extremes; and must remove all mediums .
  • (senseid) A format for communicating or presenting information.
  • The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
  • A nutrient solution for the growth of cells ''in vitro .
  • * 1996 , Samuel Baron (editor), Medical Microbiology :
  • In some instances one can take advantage of differential carbohydrate fermentation capabilities of microorganisms by incorporating one or more carbohydrates in the medium' along with a suitable pH indicator. Such '''media''' are called differential ' media (e.g., eosin methylene blue or MacConkey agar) and are commonly used to isolate enteric bacilli.
  • The means or channel by which an aim is achieved.
  • A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
  • A tool used for painting or drawing.
  • Acrylics, oils, charcoal and gouache are all mediums I used in my painting.
  • Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
  • Anything having a measurement intermediate between extremes, such as a garment or container.
  • A person whom garments or apparel of intermediate size fit.
  • A half-pint serving of Guinness (or other stout in some regions).
  • A middle place or degree.
  • a happy medium
  • * L'Estrange
  • The just medium lies between pride and abjection.
  • (dated) An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
  • * Burke
  • a medium of six years of war, and six years of peace
  • (logic) The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
  • Derived terms

    * (sense) differential medium

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Arithmetically average.
  • Of intermediate size, degree, amount etc.
  • Of meat, cooked to a point greater than rare but less than well done; typically, so the meat is still red in the centre.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • to a medium extent
  • Synonyms

    *

    Statistics

    *

    References