[count] technical 1 : something (such as a situation or a set of conditions) in which something else develops or forms
▪ the complex social matrix in which people live their lives 2 : something shaped like a pattern of lines and spaces
▪ The wires all crossed each other and formed a matrix. 3 : a container that can be filled with a material (such as very hot metal) to give the material a new shape : mold
▪ a matrix used for making knives 4 : rock in which something hard (such as a diamond or a fossil) has been formed
▪ pieces of light blue turquoise in a dark matrix 5 : the area on a human finger or toe from which the fingernail or toenail grows 6 mathematics : a set of numbers in which the numbers are listed in rows and columns and can be added or multiplied according to special rules