raw material

noun

: 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

Synonyms of raw material

• potential
• material

Examples of raw material in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Sulfur is the raw material used to make sulfuric acid, essential to fertilizer production and nearly every major metallurgical process, including copper smelting and steel production. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2026

Wells Fargo also cut its rating on Axalta Coating Systems to equal weight from overweight, also citing the higher raw material costs for the downgrade. —Liz Napolitano, CNBC, 10 Apr. 2026

The store sells beads, jewelry, raw materials and art from many Native American communities, and people around the world, Graves said. —Talia McWright, Twin Cities, 9 Apr. 2026

Oil is the key raw material for plastics, and production has been scaled back in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, sending prices soaring. —Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 7 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for raw material

• arterial
• bacterial
• ethereal
• funereal
• imperial
• sidereal
• venereal
• antibacterial
• biomaterial
• mycobacterial
• cereal
• virial

Kids Definition

raw material

noun

: something from which a useful or desirable product can be manufactured or produced

wheat and rye are the raw materials for a flour mill

collect raw material for writing a story