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7 dictionary results for: Plastic

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

plas·tic

[plas-tik] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Often, plastics. any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials, as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving. They are often known by trademark names, as Bakelite, Vinylite, or Lucite.

2.	a credit card, or credit cards collectively, usually made of plastic: He had a whole pocketful of plastic.

3.	money, payment, or credit represented by the use of a credit card or cards.

4.	something, or a group of things, made of or resembling plastic: The entire meal was served on plastic.

–adjective

5.	made of plastic.

6.	capable of being molded or of receiving form: clay and other plastic substances.

7.	produced by molding: plastic figures.

8.	having the power of molding or shaping formless or yielding material: the plastic forces of nature.

9.	being able to create, esp. within an art form; having the power to give form or formal expression: the plastic imagination of great poets and composers.

10.

Fine Arts.

a.	concerned with or pertaining to molding or modeling; sculptural.

b.	relating to three-dimensional form or space, esp. on a two-dimensional surface.

c.	pertaining to the tools or techniques of drawing, painting, or sculpture: the plastic means.

d.	characterized by an emphasis on formal structure: plastic requirements of a picture.

11.	pliable; impressionable: the plastic mind of youth.

12.	giving the impression of being made of or furnished with plastic: We stayed at one of those plastic motels.

13.	artificial or insincere; synthetic; phony: jeans made of cotton, not some plastic substitute; a plastic smile.

14.	lacking in depth, individuality, or permanence; superficial, dehumanized, or mass-produced: a plastic society interested only in material acquisition.

15.	of or pertaining to the use of credit cards: plastic credit; plastic money.

16.	Biology, Pathology. formative.

17.	Surgery. concerned with or pertaining to the remedying or restoring of malformed, injured, or lost parts: a plastic operation.

[Origin: 1625–35; 1900–10 for def. 1; < L plasticus that may be molded < Gk plastikós. See -plast, -ic

]

—Related forms

plas·ti·cal·ly, plas·tic·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 11. pliant, flexible, amenable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

plas·tic (plās'tĭk) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Capable of being shaped or formed: plastic material such as clay. See Synonyms at malleable.
Relating to or dealing with shaping or modeling: the plastic art of sculpture.
Having the qualities of sculpture; well-formed: "the astonishing plastic beauty of the chorus girls" (Frank Harris).
Giving form or shape to a substance: the plastic forces that create and wear down a mountain range.
Easily influenced; impressionable.
Made of a plastic or plastics: a plastic garden hose.
Physics Capable of undergoing continuous deformation without rupture or relaxation.
Biology Capable of building tissue; formative.
Marked by artificiality or superficiality; synthetic: a plastic world of fad, hype, and sensation.
Informal Of or obtained by means of credit cards: plastic money.

Any of various organic compounds produced by polymerization, capable of being molded, extruded, cast into various shapes and films, or drawn into filaments used as textile fibers.
Objects made of plastic.
Informal A credit card or credit cards: would accept cash or plastic in payment.

[Latin plasticus, from Greek plastikos, from plastos, molded, from plassein, to mold; see pelə-² in Indo-European roots.]

plas'ti·cal·ly adv., plas·tic'i·ty (plās-tĭs'ĭ-tē) n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plastic (adj.)

1632, "capable of shaping or molding," from L. plasticus, from Gk. plastikos "able to be molded, pertaining to molding," from plastos "molded," from plassein "to mold" (see plasma). Surgical sense of "remedying a deficiency of structure" is first recorded 1839. The noun meaning "solid substance that can be molded" is attested from 1905, originally of dental molds (Plasticine, a trade name for a modeling clay substitute, is from 1897). Main modern meaning, "synthetic product made from oil derivatives," first recorded 1909, coined by Leo Baekeland (see bakelite). Picked up in counterculture slang as an adj. meaning "false, superficial" (1963).

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

plastic
adjective
1.	capable of being molded or modeled (especially of earth or clay or other soft material); "plastic substances such as wax or clay" [syn: fictile]
2.	capable of being influenced or formed; "the plastic minds of children"; "a pliant nature"
3.	forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning; "a formative influence"; "a formative experience" [syn: formative]
noun
1.	generic name for certain synthetic or semisynthetic materials that can be molded or extruded into objects or films or filaments or used for making e.g. coatings and adhesives
2.	a card (usually plastic) that assures a seller that the person using it has a satisfactory credit rating and that the issuer will see to it that the seller receives payment for the merchandise delivered; "do you take plastic?" [syn: credit card]

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

plastic (plās'tĭk) Pronunciation Key
Noun

Any of numerous substances that can be shaped and molded when subjected to heat or pressure. Plastics are easily shaped because they consist of long-chain molecules known as polymers, which do not break apart when flexed. Plastics are usually artificial resins but can also be natural substances, as in certain cellular derivatives and shellac. Plastics can be pressed into thin layers, formed into objects, or drawn into fibers for use in textiles. Most do not conduct electricity well, are low in density, and are often very tough. Polyvinyl chloride, methyl methacrylate, and polystyrene are plastics. See more at thermoplastic , thermosetting.

Adjective

Capable of being molded or formed into a shape.

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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

plastic plas·tic (plās'tĭk)
adj.

Capable of being shaped or formed.
Easily influenced; impressionable.
Capable of building tissue; formative.

n.
Any of various organic compounds produced by polymerization, capable of being molded, extruded, cast into various shapes and films, or drawn into filaments used as textile fibers.

plas·tic'i·ty (plās-tĭs'ĭ-tē) n.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Plastic

Plas"tic\ (pl[a^]s"t[i^]k), a. [L. plasticus, Gr. ?, fr. ? to form, mold: cf. F. plastique.]

1. Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator. --Prior.

See plastic Nature working to his end. --Pope.

2. Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; -- used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.

3. Pertaining or appropriate to, or characteristic of, molding or modeling; produced by, or appearing as if produced by, molding or modeling; -- said of sculpture and the kindred arts, in distinction from painting and the graphic arts.

Medallions . . . fraught with the plastic beauty and grace of the palmy days of Italian art. --J. S. Harford.

Plastic clay (Geol.), one of the beds of the Eocene period; -- so called because used in making pottery. --Lyell.

Plastic element (Physiol.), one that bears within the germs of a higher form.

Plastic exudation (Med.), an exudation thrown out upon a wounded surface and constituting the material of repair by which the process of healing is effected.

Plastic foods. (Physiol.) See the second Note under Food.

Plastic force. (Physiol.) See under Force.

Plastic operation, an operation in plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery, that branch of surgery which is concerned with the repair or restoration of lost, injured, or deformed parts of the body.

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