The noun material has 5 senses (first 5 from tagged texts)
1. (448) material, stuff -- (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread")
2. (151) material -- (information (data or ideas or observations) that can be used or reworked into a finished form; "the archives provided rich material for a definitive biography")
3. (66) material -- (things needed for doing or making something; "writing materials"; "useful teaching materials")
4. (34) fabric, cloth, material, textile -- (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers; "the fabric in the curtains was light and semitransparent"; "woven cloth originated in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC"; "she measured off enough material for a dress")
5. (4) material -- (a person judged suitable for admission or employment; "he was university material"; "she was vice-presidential material")
Overview of adj material
The adj material has 6 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (5) material -- (concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests; "material possessions"; "material wealth"; "material comforts")
2. (4) material -- (derived from or composed of matter; "the material universe")
3. (1) material -- (directly relevant to a matter especially a law case; "his support made a material difference"; "evidence material to the issue at hand"; "facts likely to influence the judgment are called material facts"; "a material witness")
4. (1) material -- (concerned with or affecting physical as distinct from intellectual or psychological well-being; "material needs"; "the moral and material welfare of all good citizens"- T.Roosevelt)
5. corporeal, material -- (having material or physical form or substance; "that which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible and tangible" - Benjamin Jowett)
6. substantial, real, material -- (having substance or capable of being treated as fact; not imaginary; "the substantial world"; "a mere dream, neither substantial nor practical"; "most ponderous and substantial things"- Shakespeare)