In database research the term "materialization" denotes any form of data storage, i.e. any operation that actually sets some bytes on any storage layer eventually.

What is meant by materialization?

verb (used without object), ma·te·ri·al·ized, ma·te·ri·al·iz·ing. to come into perceptible existence; appear; become actual or real; be realized or carried out: Our plans never materialized. to assume material or bodily form; become corporeal: The ghost materialized before Hamlet.

What is the purpose of materialized view?

For replication purposes, materialized views allow you to maintain copies of remote data on your local node. The copies can be updatable with the Advanced Replication feature and are read-only without this feature. You can select data from a materialized view as you would from a table or view.