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

The bank had expected profit to decline on the back of higher raw material and tea leaf costs, as well as expenses related to the company’s vending machine business. — Jenny Lee, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026

For example, consider a manufacturer that used several short-term loans to buy raw materials, purchase machinery and keep up with growing orders. — Joseph Lustberg, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

Brazil also has a complete fiber-to-fashion supply chain and can source most key raw materials domestically, significantly reducing dependence on Asia. — Sj Studio, Footwear News, 2 Sep. 2026

Developing Chating could bring raw materials closer to those users. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 1 Sep. 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