plastic
Part of speech: noun
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
birdwatching
medicine
natural-sciences
ornithology
sciences
Etymology: From Latin plasticus (“of molding”), from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikós), from πλάσσω (plássō, “to mold, form”). Doublet of plastique.
Inflected forms:
form: plastics
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: plastick
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: more plastic
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most plastic
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: plastick
pos: adj
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: A synthetic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer, whether thermoplastic or thermosetting.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.
Reducing plastic waste is a crucial problem for today’s environment, and whether it’s recyclable and biodegradable phone cases or sustainable fashion, there are plenty of eco-friendly products that can help you reduce your footprint.
These endocrine disruptors are everywhere: plastics, shampoos, cosmetics, cushions, pesticides, canned foods and A.T.M. receipts. They often aren’t on labels and can be difficult to avoid.
gloss: Credit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
metonymically
uncountable
examples: I knew the war between cash and credit cards was over and plastic had won, hands down, when even Mickey D's started taking credit and debit cards.
The surgeon checks your plastic on the phone / a Casio concerto entertains you while you hold
It's all about fast cars and cussing each other / but it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic / and that's what makes my life so fucking fantastic.
gloss: Insincerity; fakeness; a person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population; a narcissistic, affected person.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
slang
uncountable
examples: Cady: You know I couldn't invite you. I had to pretend to be plastic.
Janis: Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic.
Tessa: Pretty ironic that a box full of rubbers landed me to a town full of plastic.
gloss: An instance of plastic surgery.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
examples: Somebody's had a plastic done on his nose, I think, or else somebody bent it out of shape since I last saw it.
gloss: A sculptor, moulder.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
gloss: Any solid but malleable substance.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
gloss: Synonym of Plastic Paddy.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
gloss: Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
[A]nd it is highly probable that along with more splendid habits of life entered a more lavish use of the gorgeous stores laid open to the plastic powers of fiction.
Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.
Man tracks and dog tracks, they left a clear imprint on its plastic surface, and came out on an open beach, stretching a mile away to another headland.
While a historical woman obviously dwells at the root of this whole phenomenon, her image has been plastic, allowing the Christian imagination to create widely different Marian symbols and theologies in relation to spiritual and social needs.
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.
gloss: Producing tissue.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
gloss: Creative, formative.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: Benign Creator! let thy plastic hand dispose its own effect
See plastic Nature working to this end.
gloss: Capable of adapting to varying conditions; characterized by environmental adaptability.
pos: adj
gloss: Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material.
pos: adj
gloss: Made of plastic.
pos: adj
examples: A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.
A green plastic watering can / For a fake Chinese rubber plant / In a fake plastic earth / That she bought from a rubber man / In a town full of rubber plans / To get rid of itself
gloss: Inferior or not the real thing.
pos: adj
tags: derogatory
figuratively
examples: The Hippie has been replaced by the pseudo-Hippie, the plastic Hippie, the weekend Hippie
People always try to say that we're garage rock, but that scene is so plastic. Some dude in a band has tight jeans, dyed black hair, and a starving girlfriend with bangs, and people call it indie rock. It's so gross.
Frustrated by a globalized music industry force-feeding them plastic pop music, hackers, remixers, and activists began to mobilize...
gloss: Fake, insincere, especially in a shallow and conformist way pretending to smoothness and glossy flawlessness.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
informal
examples: He kissed the white woman once, and it was so artificial, so plastic (that's the word, plastic) that one wondered why did they bother at all.
Then go home and check yourself / You think we're singing 'bout someone else… / But you're plastic people / You gotta go
Plastic people with plastic minds / Are on their way to plastic homes
In fact it seems as though there are two kinds of people in the world: real people and plastic people, as the Flower Children used to say.
But I don't think she would be happy in Los Angeles — it's so plastic and cheap and they expect the women to be whores to get anywhere.
We're plastic but we'll still have fun!
And further, I don't see anything in American life – for myself – to aspire to. Nothing at all. It's all so very false. So shallow, so plastic, so morally and ethically corrupt.
The Clash tour was pretty tough. Their fans mostly hated Suicide. A lot of them were plastic punks who just thought punk rock was guitars, safety pins and bin bags.
gloss: Escaped from captivity, rather than wild.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: A superb — and apparently wild, not plastic — Baikal Teal was located at RSPB Greylake in Somerset[.]
gloss: Introduced, rather than native or naturally vagrant.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: I was checking into my motel while a Red-whiskered Bulbul called outside – a Queensland plastic rarity which was somewhat amusing.
Derived words: bioplastic
black plastic crap
microplastic
nanoplastic
plasticard
pyroplastic
aminoplastic
amyloplastic
antiplastic
apicoplastic
autoplastic
basiplastic
Bingham plastic
cacoplastic
ceroplastic
conplastic
cranioplastic
ecoplastic
electroplastic
embryoplastic
euplastic
euryplastic
fibre-reinforced plastic
fluoroplastic
haematoplastic
heteroplastic
homeoplastic
hydroplastic
ideoplastic
macroplastic
megaplastic
mesoplastic
metalloplastic
neoplastic
neuroplastic
nonplastic
normoplastic
oculoplastic
oligoplastic
oncoplastic
organoplastic
plamodel
plasteel
plastically
plastic art
plasticate
plasticator
plastic bag
plastic baton round
plastic beauty
plastic bullet
plastic cheese
plastic crack
plastic cup
plastic deformation
plastic explosive
plastic fantastic
plastic flow
plastic footprint
plastician
Plasticine
plasticine
plasticise
plasticism
plasticity
plasticization
plasticize
plasticizer
plasticky
plasticless
plastic money
plasticness
plasticosis
plastic Paddy
plastic panties
plastic pants
plastic patriotism
plastic pig
plastic plod
plastic ratio
plasticrete
plastic rush
plastic shaman
plastic surgeon
plastic surgery
plasticuffs
plasticulture
plasticware
plastic wood
plastify
plastiglass
plastiglomerate
plastiskin
plastisol
plastisphere
plastivore
plastivorous
plastizyme
plastoid
plazzy
pleather
polyplastic
pseudoplastic
semiplastic
Silastic
sticky-backed plastic
sticky-back plastic
subplastic
superplastic
synaptoplastic
thermoplastic
thromboplastic
unplastic
viscoplastic
xyloplastic
zymoplastic
Translations: