raw material

raw material

noun

Definition of RAW MATERIAL

: crude or processed material that can be converted by manufacture, processing, or combination into a new and useful product <wheat … is raw material for the flour mill — C. A. Koepke>; broadly : something with a potential for improvement, development, or elaboration <perplexities are often the raw material of discoveries — Agnes M. Clerke>

Examples of RAW MATERIAL

1. Wheat and rye are the raw materials for a flour mill.
2. His experiences during the war were the raw material for the story.

First Known Use of RAW MATERIAL

1796

Related to RAW MATERIAL

Synonyms: material, making, stuff, substance, timber

Related Words: possibility, potential, potentiality; matter, metal

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Rhymes with RAW MATERIAL

immaterial, magisterial, managerial, ministerial, presbyterial