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Definition of plastic - 9 dictionary results
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plas⋅tic

  [plas-tik]
Use plastic in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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.
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-plastic

 
a combining form occurring in chloroplastic; protoplastic.
Origin:
see plastic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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plas·tic   (plās'tĭk)   
adj.  

  1. Capable of being shaped or formed: plastic material such as clay. See Synonyms at malleable.

  2. Relating to or dealing with shaping or modeling: the plastic art of sculpture.

  3. Having the qualities of sculpture; well-formed: "the astonishing plastic beauty of the chorus girls" (Frank Harris).

  4. Giving form or shape to a substance: the plastic forces that create and wear down a mountain range.

  5. Easily influenced; impressionable.

  6. Made of a plastic or plastics: a plastic garden hose.

  7. Physics Capable of undergoing continuous deformation without rupture or relaxation.

  8. Biology Capable of building tissue; formative.

  9. Marked by artificiality or superficiality; synthetic: a plastic world of fad, hype, and sensation.

  10. Informal Of or obtained by means of credit cards: plastic money.

n.  

  1. 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.

  2. Objects made of plastic.

  3. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
plastic

  1. mod.
    phony; false. : She wears too much makeup and looks totally plastic.
  2. n.
    a plastic credit card. : I don't carry any cash, just plastic.
  3. mod.
    having to do with credit cards and their use. : There is too much plastic debt in most households.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

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).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 1plas·tic
Pronunciation: 'plas-tik
Function: adjective
1 : made or consisting of a plastic
2 : capable of being deformed continuously and permanently in any direction without breaking or tearing
3 : capable of growth, repair, or differentiation plastictissue>
4 : of, relating to, or involving plastic surgery <plastic repair>

Main Entry: 2plastic
Function: noun
1 : a plastic substance; specifically : any of numerous organic synthetic or processed materialsthat are mostly thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers of high molecular weight and that can be made into objects, films, or filaments
2 : an object made of plastic
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

plastic plas·tic (plās'tĭk)
adj.

  1. Capable of being shaped or formed.

  2. Easily influenced; impressionable.

  3. 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.

-plastic suff.
Forming; growing; changing; developing: neoplastic.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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