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

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Examples of raw material in a Sentence

His experiences during the war were the raw material for the story.

Recent Examples on the Web

Similar to peers including German chemicals firms BASF SE and Covestro AG, Nouryon has been suffering from rising raw material and energy costs over the course of the year. — Nina Trentmann, WSJ, "Akzo Nobel Spinoff Nouryon Seeks Price Rises to Offset Higher Raw Material Costs," 24 Dec. 2018 Veja’s vegan shoes are made from organic raw materials and its packaging is recycled. — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, "9 Celebrity-Approved Fashion Labels That Made It Big in 2018," 20 Dec. 2018 Do pile those raw materials into some sort of compost bin, though. — Lee Reich, The Seattle Times, "Fall is the perfect time to build a compost bin," 16 Oct. 2018 But, as with many other raw materials, China began tapping its own massive reserves in the 1980s and quickly became a formidable rival. — Timothy Puko, WSJ, "Prized ‘Rare Earth’ Minerals Feel Scorch of Tariffs," 29 Nov. 2018 On Wednesday Goodyear Tire & Rubber said higher raw materials costs and weaker demand hurt its business in the first quarter. — Washington Post, "Stocks sink again as materials costs and interest rates rise," 25 Apr. 2018 Unlike so many modern coworking spaces that fill nondescript real estate, Boitsfort had some exceptional raw material to work with. — Liz Stinson, Curbed, "This Brutalist masterpiece is now a gorgeous coworking space," 12 Dec. 2018 Historically, manufacturing involved cutting, stamping, or pressing shapes from myriad raw materials. — Pam Baker, Ars Technica, "Artificial Intelligence and the coming of the self-designing machine," 6 Dec. 2018 There are companies that run their goods — either as raw materials or as consumer-stage final products — through lab tests. — Dan Nosowitz, Vox, "The super-popular cannabis compound, explained.," 1 Nov. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'raw material.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

18 Jan 2019

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The first known use of raw material was in 1612

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More Definitions for raw material

raw material

noun

Financial Definition of raw material

What It Is

Raw materials are commodities, parts or substances that are assembled or processed to form a final product.

How It Works

For example, the raw materials involved in chocolate chip cookies are butter, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla, baking powder and chocolate.

Why It Matters

Raw materials determine the quality and cost of producing an item. Many raw materials are commodities that trade on the futures market. For many companies, acquiring raw materials at a good price makes the difference between having a profitable year and having an unprofitable year.

Raw materials may be considered unfinished goods and thus recorded as inventory on the balance sheet.

Source: Investing Answers

raw material

noun