materialize

[ muh-teer-ee-uh-lahyz ]

verb (used without object)

, ma·te·ri·al·ized, ma·te·ri·al·iz·ing.

1. to come into perceptible existence; appear; become actual or real; be realized or carried out:

   Our plans never materialized.

   Synonyms: issue, rise, show, emerge

2. to assume material or bodily form; become corporeal:

   The ghost materialized before Hamlet.

verb (used with object)

, ma·te·ri·al·ized, ma·te·ri·al·iz·ing.

1. to give material form to; realize:

   This year, she materialized her long-held ambition to go to law school.

2. to invest with material attributes:

   The writer materializes the more abstract ideas with metaphors, making the concepts easier to grasp.

3. to make physically perceptible; cause (a spirit or the like) to appear in bodily form.
4. to render materialistic.

materialize

/ məˈtɪərɪəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. intr to become fact; actually happen

   our hopes never materialized

2. to invest or become invested with a physical shape or form
3. to cause (a spirit, as of a dead person) to appear in material form or (of a spirit) to appear in such form
4. intr to take shape; become tangible

   after hours of discussion, the project finally began to materialize

5. physics to form (material particles) from energy, as in pair production

Derived Forms

• maˈterialˌizer, noun
• maˌterialiˈzation, noun

Other Words From

• ma·te·ri·al·i·za·tion [m, uh, -teer-ee-, uh, -lahy-, zey, -sh, uh, n], noun
• ma·te·ri·al·iz·er noun
• re·ma·te·ri·al·ize verb rematerialized rematerializing
• un·ma·te·ri·al·ized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of materialize¹

First recorded in 1700–10; material + -ize

Example Sentences

Should a Mars project not materialize, SpaceX could still reap rewards in the next four years.

From Los Angeles Times

“I can only hope that some of the promises that were made on the campaign trail do not materialize.”

From Slate

Recollect the many anticipated “presidential pivots” that failed to materialize during Trump’s first time in office.

From Los Angeles Times

Decades later, a fragment of that dream has begun to materialize, and residential towers with Space Age names — Evo, Aven, E11even — occupy former parking lots.

From Los Angeles Times

The promised well-paying jobs did not materialize, and most of those who relocated traded rural for urban poverty.

From Salon

Related Words

• appear
• emerge
• happen
• occur
• realize
• take place
• turn up
• unfold