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

Add seemingly interminable supply chain volatility, extreme weather, trade shifts and rising raw material and the CFO’s involvement becomes unavoidable. — Brooke Roberts-Islam, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

The declaration assesses emissions and environmental impacts across the value chain, beginning with raw material extraction and continuing through aircraft manufacturing, operation and eventual end-of-life. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 21 July 2026

The molecular cloud and its dark lanes of gas and dust, the raw materials for star construction, are at the left of the DECam image. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 17 July 2026

Mitochondria supply the raw materials for creating the neurotransmitters glutamate and acetylcholine, which manage our brain, nerves, and muscles. — Rachel Nuwer, Quanta Magazine, 17 July 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