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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Materialism \Ma*te"ri*al*ism\, n. [Cf. F. mat['e]rialisme.]
1. The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and
tenets; called also {philosophical materialism}.
[1913 Webster]

The irregular fears of a future state had been
supplanted by the materialism of Epicurus.
--Buckminster.
[1913 Webster]

2. The tendency to give undue importance to material
interests as contrasted with spiritual concerns; devotion
to the material nature and its wants.
[1913 Webster]

3. Material substances in the aggregate; matter. [R. & Obs.]
--A. Chalmers.
[1913 Webster]

{philosophical materialism} The theory that matter and energy
are the only objects existing within the universe, and
that mental and spiritual phenomena are explainable as
functions of the nervous system of people. Same as
{materialism}[1].
[PJC]