important, pressing, serious, urgent, weighty
He left, saying he had pressing matters to attend to.
The question of his innocence is a weighty matter for this court.

complex, complicated, controversial, delicate, difficult, sensitive
I wasn't sure how to approach the delicate matter of pay.

simple, trifling (esp. BrE), trivial
It is then a simple matter to print off the data you have collected.

no easy, no simple
It is no simple matter starting a new business.

practical
They've agreed in theory, but now we need to discuss practical matters.

family, personal, private
subject
His articles deal with a wide range of subject matter.

economic, environmental, financial, legal, political, procedural, religious, spiritual, technical
routine
The rest of the meeting was taken up by routine matters.

related
They talk mostly about work and related matters.

different, other
I don't mind lizards, but snakes are a different matter.

bring up, broach, raise
I thought I'd better broach the matter with my boss.
The matter will be raised at our next meeting.

address, debate, discuss, go into, take up
I don't really want to go into this matter now.

press, pursue, take further
After legal advice I chose to take the matter further.

drop
His lawyer advised him to drop the matter.

consider, examine, investigate, look at, look into, tackle
clarify, clear up, decide, resolve, settle
It's a relief to have the matter settled.

approach, deal with, handle, treat
Police are treating the matter as a murder investigation.

be related to, pertain to (formal), relate to
She was a great source of knowledge on matters relating to nutrition.

in a/the matter
I don't have much experience in these matters.
Do I have any choice in the matter?

on a/the matter
Speak to your manager if you need help on this matter.

matter for
The incident is definitely a matter for the police.

matter of
It's a matter of concern to all of us.
We discussed the matter of whether or not to hire a bus.
Getting the effect you want is a matter of trial and error.

the crux of the matter, the heart of the matter (= the most important part of a subject/situation)
let the matter drop, let the matter go, let the matter rest
She refused to let the matter rest.

the matter in hand
Let's concentrate on the matter in hand for now, and leave other issues till later.

be no laughing matter
The safety of his family was no laughing matter.

complicate, confuse, make worse, not help
It didn't help matters that I had a terrible cold.
To make matters worse, my friend then lost her keys.

simplify
Let me simplify matters by giving you my answer now.

arrange
She always arranges matters to suit herself.

solid
organic, vegetable
composed entirely of organic matter

inanimate, inorganic
decaying
dark (science)
printed, reading