materialize

verb

ma·​te·​ri·​al·​ize mə-ˈtir-ē-ə-ˌlīz 

materialized; materializing

transitive verb

1

a

: to make material : objectify

b

: to cause to appear in bodily form

materialize the spirits of the dead

2

: to cause to be materialistic

intransitive verb

1

: to assume bodily form

2

a

: to appear especially suddenly

b

: to come into existence

materializer noun

Synonyms of materialize

• begin
• originate
• arise
• start
• appear
• commence
• be
• emerge

Examples of materialize in a Sentence

A waiter suddenly materialized beside our table.

Rain clouds materialized on the horizon.

Recent Examples on the Web

The curator arranged for the work to be restored at Schweitzer’s expense, but after no sale materialized, the watercolor was sent back to Schweitzer’s secretary in Paris in 1939. —Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 27 May 2026

The idea of seamlessly buying and selling tokenized property stakes has yet to materialize at meaningful scale. —Sean Lee, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026

Starting around mid-1996, labor productivity began accelerating more rapidly than TFP, but the full productivity benefits of the Internet didn’t materialize in the overall data until several years later. —Tristan Bove, Fortune, 27 May 2026

City officials have long tried to attract a grocery store to the community to address the food desert in the area, but previous deals either fell through or nothing seemed to materialize, Smith said. —Jenna Ebbers, Kansas City Star, 27 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1710, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Rhymes for materialize

• actualize
• antagonize
• apologise
• apologize
• capitalize
• categorize
• characterize
• commercialize
• conceptualize
• contrariwise
• criminalize
• decentralize

Kids Definition

materialize

verb

ma·​te·​ri·​al·​ize mə-ˈtir-ē-ə-ˌlīz 

materialized; materializing

1

: to give material form and substance to

2

: to assume or cause to assume bodily form

a ghost materialized out of nowhere

3

a

: to come into existence

a promise that never materialized

b

: to appear suddenly