a matter of
idiom
1
—used to refer to a small amount
It cooks in a matter of (a few) minutes.
The crisis was resolved in a matter of a few hours.
The ball was foul by a matter of inches.
2
—used to say that one thing results from or requires another
Learning to ride a bicycle is a matter of practice.
His success was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
It's only a matter of time before/until we catch him.
3
—used to explain the reason for something
She insists on honesty as a matter of principle.
All requests for free tickets are turned down as a matter of policy.
Examples of a matter of in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In just a matter of days, the clip has gone viral with over 3 million views and more than 507,000 likes on TikTok at the time of writing.
—
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Sep. 2025
There’s little margin for error, and the difference between walking away from this season with a few extra hundred million in sales revenue and being on the hook for a whole lot of compensatory units is a matter of a couple of percentage points.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Elaborate productions like that can cost in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, while an AI studio could produce them for much cheaper and finish them in a matter of days.
—Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Controlling supply chains has always been a matter of power, and identifying choke points in those supply chains is more critical than ever before in complex value chain systems.
—Koray Köse, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
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Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Sep. 2025
There’s little margin for error, and the difference between walking away from this season with a few extra hundred million in sales revenue and being on the hook for a whole lot of compensatory units is a matter of a couple of percentage points.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Elaborate productions like that can cost in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, while an AI studio could produce them for much cheaper and finish them in a matter of days.
—Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Controlling supply chains has always been a matter of power, and identifying choke points in those supply chains is more critical than ever before in complex value chain systems.
—Koray Köse, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for a matter of
Cite this Entry
“A matter of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20matter%20of. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.
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