What does dematerialized mean?
Dematerialized is the past tense and past participle of the verb dematerialize, meaning to lose physical substance or to be converted out of physical form. The word operates in two distinct spheres. In science fiction, it describes people or objects that vanish into non-material form, often to be reconstituted elsewhere, as with a transporter beam. In finance, it has a precise technical meaning: securities are said to have been dematerialized when paper share certificates are replaced by electronic records held in central depositories, eliminating the risks of loss, theft, and forgery. By extension, economists speak of dematerialized products and economies, where value lies in information and services rather than physical goods. The word derives from Latin materia ('matter') via English material, prefixed with de- to indicate removal. Its tone ranges from playful in fictional contexts to strictly formal in financial ones.
verbPast tense and past participle of dematerialize: to lose physical substance or become immaterial, whether literally (as in fiction) or figuratively (as in converting physical assets into electronic form).
- (of a person or object) to cease to have physical form or vanish into non-material form, especially in science fiction contexts.
- (of assets such as shares) to convert from physical certificates into electronic records.
- More generally, to reduce or remove the physical/material component of something, as in a dematerialized economy.
"The company dematerialized its share certificates, moving all holdings onto an electronic registry."
"At the touch of a control, the crew dematerialized on the transporter pad and reassembled on the planet's surface."
"By the late 1990s most major exchanges had dematerialized their listed shares."
Long before Star Trek beamed anyone up, accountants were already making paper disappear — 'dematerialized' is one of the rare words equally at home in science fiction and finance.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dematerialized
The word combines the prefix de- ('removal, reversal') with material, which comes from Latin materia, meaning matter or substance. Dematerialize was formed within English, likely in the nineteenth century, and gained wide currency through twentieth-century science fiction before being adopted as precise terminology by the securities industry for converting paper certificates into electronic records. Cognates sharing the Latin root include material, immaterial, and materialism.
Related word forms
How dematerialized is actually used
In everyday use the word is rare outside its two main registers: speculative fiction (where it describes objects or people vanishing) and finance (where it describes replacing paper certificates with electronic book entries). In financial writing it is standard terminology, not metaphorical.
Easily confused with dematerialized
Demoralized means having lost confidence or hope, while dematerialized means having lost physical substance or been converted out of physical form.