The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - mattern.

1) material, substance, stuff, sum and substance: Some yellowish matter oozed out of the wound. It is a question of mind over matter. 2) situation, issue, question, affair, business, subject, topic, condition, thing, fact, concern; occurrence, episode, incident, event, occasion, proceeding: It was a matter of life and death. His loss of face is not a matter that need involve you. 3) problem, difficulty, trouble, complication, worry, upset, dilemma, quandary, enigma, puzzle: What is the matter? 4 content, essentials, pith, context, theme, argument, purport, implication; signification, meaning, meaningfulness, import, importance, significance, moment, weight, consequence: Pay attention to the matter in his speech, not his manner. It is of little matter to me whether you go or not. 5) amount, sum, quantity, question: It was only a matter of a few pennies' difference. --v. 6) be important or of importance, count, be of consequence, make a difference, mean something: What you think matters a great deal.