/meuh tear"ee euh liz'euhm/ , n.
1. preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.
2. the philosophical theory that regards matter and its motions as constituting the universe, and all phenomena, including those of mind, as due to material agencies.
[ 1740-50; materialismus. See MATERIAL, -ISM ]