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

Those records become the raw material for refining processes, improving performance, and testing new approaches. —Sandy Carter, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026

Africa continued exporting raw materials while the processing, financing, and technological learning moved elsewhere. —W. Gyude Moore, semafor.com, 25 May 2026

Some raw material costs have surged by as much as 30%. —Pippa Stevens,macklin Fishman, CNBC, 24 May 2026

Like a mercantile colony, all Putin has is a lot of land, raw materials, and psychopathic propaganda. —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 23 May 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