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raw material

raw material

48 2.8
A natural thing used to make goods or energy
  • noun
  • /rɔː məˈtɪəriəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : materia prima
  • In construction, concrete is often made from raw material such as sand, gravel, and crushed stone.
  • raw materials and energy
  • import raw materials
  • source of raw materials

Cooking takes raw materials and transforms them.

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Examples

  • They grow the cotton in India or Egypt, they send the raw materials to Britain.

  • You have to deliver to the cell all of the raw materials it needs every day.

  • Second, the cost of raw material and waste treatment is reduced.

  • Thus, they made excellent raw material for soldiers.

  • One of the first things we're going to need is the raw material.

  • What is not known is exactly where these raw materials came from.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Production of industrial raw materials rose 60 percent in the war period.

    Academic text (1990)
  • This should be the raw material for poems and stories.

  • Subsequently, competition among businesses for the raw material limited its distribution.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Children collected much of the raw material from roadsides and old fields.

    Academic text (1991)

Synonyms

commodity
vsraw material
161 3.9

A raw material like wheat or oil that people buy and sell in large amounts

is the natural basic substance not defined by market sale
feedstock
vsraw material
  • Specialized
5 7.4

Raw material used in a factory to make products or energy

is the natural basic substance rather than a supplied process input

Antonyms

finished
  • Specialized
1 1.0

Made and ready to use or sell, often with a smooth surface

refined
  • Specialized
1 3.5

Pure because processing removes unwanted parts

How Processed

finished
  • Specialized
1 1.0
processed
2.9
raw material
  • Specialized
48 2.8

Surface Forms

raw material singular
raw materials plural

Morphology

raw + material

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'raw' (unprocessed, natural) + 'material' (a substance used to make things). This noun compound follows a common compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Raw material is the simple, natural stuff used to make other things. Imagine a pile of raw wood or unspun cotton: these materials are not finished yet and are used to make the final products, so the phrase means 'a basic substance used to make goods'.