English
plastic
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈplæstɪk/, /ˈplɑːstɪk/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈplæstɪk/, [ˈpʰlæstɪk]
Noun

plastic

  1. A synthetic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer, whether thermoplastic or thermosetting.
  2. (colloquial, metonym) Credit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.
  3. (slang) Fakeness, or a person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population.
  4. (slang, countable) An instance of plastic surgery.
    • 1951, Arnold Hano, The Big Out (page 146)
      Somebody's had a plastic done on his nose, I think, or else somebody bent it out of shape since I last saw it.
  5. (obsolete) A sculptor, moulder.
  6. (archaic) Any solid but malleable substance.
Translations Translations Translations Adjective

plastic

  1. Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: malleable, flexible, pliant, Thesaurus:moldable
    Antonyms: elastic
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 103:
      the rage […] betook itself at last to certain missile weapons; which, though from their plastic nature they threatened neither the loss of life or of limb, were, however, sufficiently dreadful to a well-dressed lady.
    • 1898, Journal of Microscopy (page 256)
      Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.
    • 2012, Adam Zeman, ‘Only Connect’, Literary Review, issue 399:
      while the broad pattern of connections between brain regions is similar in every healthy human brain, their details – their number, size and strength – are thought to underpin our individuality, as synapses are ‘plastic’, shaped by experience.
  2. (medicine, now, rare) Producing tissue. [from 17th c.]
  3. (dated) Creative, formative. [from 17th c.]
    • the plastic hand of the Creator
    • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify ), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019 ↗:
  4. (biology) Capable of adapting to varying conditions; characterized by environmental adaptability. [from 19th c.]
  5. Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material. [from 19th c.]
  6. Made of plastic. [from 20th c.]
  7. Inferior or not the real thing. [from 20th c.]
    Synonyms: ersatz
  8. (informal, of a person) Fake.
    Synonyms: fake
    Antonyms: genuine
Translations Translations Translations

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
Offline English dictionary