What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Spirit vs Matter - What's the difference?

spirit | matter |

As nouns the difference between spirit and matter

is that spirit is spirit (alcohol) while matter is .

spirit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The undying essence of a human; the soul.
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit .}}
  • * 1967 , MacCormack, Woman Times Seven
  • a triumph of the spirit over the flesh.
  • A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.
  • A wandering spirit haunts the island.
  • * John Locke
  • Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of spirits and goblins in the dark.
  • Enthusiasm.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Sunderland 2-2 West Brom , passage=The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.}}
  • The manner or style of something.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • * Alexander Pope
  • A perfect judge will read each work of wit / With the same spirit that its author writ.
  • (usually, in the plural) A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.
  • Energy; ardour.
  • * Fuller
  • "Write it then, quickly," replied Bede; and summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired.
  • One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper.
  • a ruling spirit'''; a schismatic '''spirit
  • * Dryden
  • Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges.
  • Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; often in the plural.
  • to be cheerful, or in good spirits'''; to be down-hearted, or in bad '''spirits
  • * South
  • God has made a spirit' of building succeed a ' spirit of pulling down.
  • (obsolete) Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself.
  • * Spenser
  • For, else he sure had left not one alive, / But all, in his Revenge, of Spirit would deprive.
  • * Spenser
  • The mild air, with season moderate, / Gently attempered, and disposed so well, / That still it breathed forth sweet spirit .
  • (obsolete) A rough breathing; an aspirate, such as the letter h ; also, a mark denoting aspiration.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • Be it a letter or spirit , we have great use for it.
  • Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.
  • the spirit of an enterprise, or of a document
  • (alchemy, obsolete) Any of the four substances: sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, and arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment).
  • * Chaucer
  • the four spirits and the bodies seven
  • (dyeing) stannic chloride
  • Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * community spirit * free spirit * Holy Spirit * in good spirits * in spirit (adverb) * in the spirit it was meant (idiom) * kindred spirit * methlyated spirit * moving spirit * party spirit * petroleum spirit * poor in spirit * proof spirit * pyroacetic spirit * rectified spirit * shad-spirit * spiritdom * spirited * spiriten * spirit-filled * spiritful * spirithood * spiritish * spiritless * spiritlike * spiritling * spiritly * spiritness * spiritous * spiritship * spiritsome * spiritual * spiritually * spirituality * spirit away (verb) * spirit gum * spirit lamp * spirit level * spirit off * spirit of hartshorn * spirit of salt * spirit of the law * spirit of turpentine * spirit of vitriol * spirit of wine * spirit rapper/spirit rapping * spirit stove * spirit world * spirit writing * surgical spirit * team spirit * that's the spirit * the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak * white spirit * wood spirit * zombie spirit (spirit)

    See also

    * ghost * soul

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=February 8, author=Dave Kehr, title=Buñuel at His Wildest, in Circulation Again, work=New York Times citation
  • , passage=God does not make an appearance, but the Devil (Ms. Pinal) emphatically does: first in the guise of a schoolgirl who tries to lure Simon down with the sight of her shapely legs; then as a bearded but blatantly female Jesus carrying a lamb; and finally as a stylishly coiffed woman who succeeds in spiriting Simon off, by means of a jet, to a Manhattan discotheque — Buñuel’s persuasive idea of hell.}}
  • * Willis
  • I felt as if I had been spirited into some castle of antiquity.
  • To animate with vigor; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit; sometimes followed by up .
  • Civil dissensions often spirit the ambition of private men.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Many officers and private men spirit up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion.

    Statistics

    * ----

    matter

    English

    (wikipedia matter)

    Noun

  • Substance, material.
  • # (physics) The basic structural component of the universe. Matter usually has mass and volume.
  • # (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles. (Non-antimatter matter).
  • # A kind of substance.
  • # Written material (especially in books or magazines).
  • # (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
  • A condition, subject or affair, especially one of concern.
  • * (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • if the matter should be tried by duel
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name / Shall be the copious matter of my song.
  • * Bible, (w) xviii. 22
  • Every great matter' they shall bring unto thee, but every small ' matter they shall judge.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;
  • * 12 July 2012 , Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
  • The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
  • An approximate amount or extent.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.
  • * (w, Roger L'Estrange) (1616-1704)
  • Away he goes,a matter of seven miles.
  • * (William Congreve) (1670-1729)
  • I have thoughts to tarry a small matter .
  • (obsolete) The essence; the pith; the embodiment.
  • * (Ben Jonson) (1572-1637)
  • He is the matter of virtue.
  • (obsolete) Inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife.
  • (obsolete) Pus.
  • Synonyms

    * material * stuff * substance

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the noun "matter") * a small matter - Somewhat, slightly * as a matter of fact - Actually * as a matter of law * back matter * baryonic matter * baryonic dark matter * degenerate matter * fecal matter * for that matter - In regards to * front matter * gray matter, grey matter * matterless * matter-of-fact * matter of record * mind over matter * mattery * no matter * organic matter * particulate matter * state of matter * strange matter * subject-matter * what's the matter * white matter

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be important.
  • :The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.
  • :Sorry for pouring ketchup on your clean white shirt! - Oh, don't worry, it does not matter .
  • *
  • *:As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 10, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle , passage=Despite further attempts by Agbonlahor and Young, however, they could not find the goal to reward their endeavour.
    It mattered little as Newcastle's challenge faded and Villa began to dominate the game in midfield, and it was only Barton's continued sense of injustice that offered the visitors any spark in a tame contest.}}
  • (transitive, obsolete, outside, dialects) To care about, to mind; to find important.
  • *, Folio Society 1973, p.47:
  • *:Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof
  • To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.
  • *Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • *:Each slight sore mattereth .
  • Derived terms

    * it doesn't matter * no matter - In spite of

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----