Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Materialism \Ma*te"ri*al*ism\, n. [Cf. F. mat['e]rialisme.]
   1. The doctrine of materialists; materialistic views and
      tenets.

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

   2. The tendency to give undue importance to material
      interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.

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

Source : WordNet®

materialism
     n 1: a desire for wealth and material possessions with little
          interest in ethical or spiritual matters [syn: {philistinism}]
     2: (philosophy) the philosophical theory that matter is the
        only reality [syn: {physicalism}]