plastic

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: plas=tic

CIDE DICTIONARY

plastic, a. [L. plasticus, Gr. , fr. to form, mold: cf. F. plastique.].

•  Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator.  Prior.  [1913 Webster]

  "See plastic Nature working to his end."  [1913 Webster]
•  Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; -- used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Medallions . . . fraught with the plastic beauty and grace of the palmy days of Italian art."  [1913 Webster]

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.

plastic, n. 

 A substance composed predominantly of a synthetic organic high polymer capable of being cast or molded; many varieties of plastic are used to produce articles of commerce (after 1900). [MW10 gives origin of word as 1905]  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

plastic, n. & adj.
--n.
1 any of a number of synthetic polymeric substances that can be given any required shape.
2 (attrib.) made of plastic (plastic bag).
--adj.
1 capable of being moulded; pliant; supple.
2 moulding or giving form to clay, wax, etc.
3 Biol. exhibiting an adaptability to environmental changes.
4 (esp. in philosophy) formative, creative.

Idiom

plastic arts art forms involving modelling or moulding, e.g. sculpture and ceramics, or art involving the representation of solid objects with three-dimensional effects. plastic bomb a bomb containing plastic explosive. plastic explosive a putty-like explosive capable of being moulded by hand. plastic surgeon a qualified practitioner of plastic surgery. plastic surgery the process of reconstructing or repairing parts of the body by the transfer of tissue, either in the treatment of injury or for cosmetic reasons.

Derivative

plastically adv. plasticity n. plasticize v.tr. (also -ise). plasticization n. plasticizer n. plasticky adj.

Etymology

F plastique or L plasticus f. Gk plastikos f. plasso mould

THESAURUS

plastic

Bakelite, Buna, Celluloid, Formica, Lucite, Mylar, PVC, Perspex, Plexiglas, Styrofoam, Teflon, able to adapt, acaroid resins, accessible, accordant, acetate, acetate nitrate, acquiescent, acrylic, adaptable, adaptive, adhesive, adjustable, alkyd, alterable, alterative, amber, amenable, aminoplast, anal, apt, artificial, average, bendable, bending, biddable, bogus, bourgeois, bright, casein plastic, cast plastic, cellophane, cellulose acetate, cellulose ether, cellulose nitrate, cellulose plastic, cellulosic, changeable, cheap, checkered, chintzy, clayey, clever, colophony, common, commonplace, complaisant, compliant, compulsive, concordant, conformable, conformist, conventional, corresponding, coumarone resins, coumarone-indene, counterfeit, crummy, docile, ductile, educable, elastic, epoxy, ersatz, ever-changing, extensible, extensile, extruded plastic, fabricable, facile, fake, fictile, flexible, flexile, flexuous, fluid, fluorocarbon plastic, formable, formal, formalistic, formational, formative, fossil resins, furane, garden, garden-variety, giving, gum rosin, gums, harmonious, imitation, impermanent, impressible, impressionable, in accord, in keeping, in line, in step, inexperienced, influenceable, instructable, intelligent, kaleidoscopic, kosher, lac resins, laminate, lignin, like putty, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, lot, malleable, manageable, many-sided, melamine, meretricious, metabolic, metamorphic, middle-class, mobile, modifiable, moldable, molded plastic, molding compounds, morphotic, motivated, movable, multiresin, mutable, neoprene, nitrate, no great shakes, nonuniform, normal, nylon, obedient, open, open-minded, ordinary, orthodox, other-directed, parcel, paste, pedantic, permutable, persuadable, persuasible, pervious, phenolic urea, pinchbeck, pine resins, plasmatic, plasmic, plat, pliable, pliant, plot, polyester, polymer, polymeric amide, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, precisianistic, protean, proteiform, protein plastic, protoplasmic, quick, ready, receptive, regular, resilient, resin, resin plastic, resina, resinate, resinoid, responsive, ripe for instruction, rosin, rubbery, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, schoolable, sensitive, sequacious, sham, shapable, shapeable, shoddy, silicone resin, soft, springy, square, straight, stuffy, suasible, submissive, suburban, suggestible, supple, susceptible, swayable, synthetic, synthetic fabric, synthetic resin, synthetic rubber, teachable, tetrafluoroethylene, thermoplastic, thermosetting plastic, thirsty for knowledge, tract, tractable, tractile, traditionalist, trainable, transient, transitory, unexceptional, unformed, unnoteworthy, unremarkable, unspectacular, uptight, urea, urea formaldehyde, usual, variable, vegetable resins, vinyl, waxy, weak, whippy, willing, willowy, workable, yielding

ROGET THESAURUS

plastic

Changeableness

N changeableness, mutability, inconstancy, versatility, mobility, instability, unstable equilibrium, vacillation, fluctuation, vicissitude, alternation, restlessness, fidgets, disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, unrest, agitation, moon, Proteus, chameleon, quicksilver, shifting sands, weathercock, harlequin, Cynthia of the minute, April showers, wheel of Fortune, transientness, changeable, changeful, changing, mutable, variable, checkered, ever changing, protean, proteiform, versatile, unstaid, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled, fluctuating, restless, agitated, erratic, fickle, irresolute, capricious, touch and go, inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic, vibratory, vagrant, wayward, desultory, afloat, alternating, alterable, plastic, mobile, transient, wavering, seesaw, off and on, a rolling stone gathers no moss, pictra mossa non fa muschis, honores mutant mores, varium et mutabile semper femina.

Form

N form, figure, shape, conformation, configuration, make, formation, frame, construction, cut, set, build, trim, cut of one's jib, stamp, type, cast, mold, fashion, contour, structure, plasmature, feature, lineament, turn, phase, posture, attitude, pose, morphism, isomorphism, forming, formation, figuration, efformation, sculpture, plasmation, formed, plastic, fictile, formative, fluid, plasmic, isomorphous, pleomorphic, protean, changeable.

Softness

N softness, pliableness, flexibility, pliancy, pliability, sequacity, malleability, ductility, tractility, extendibility, extensibility, plasticity, inelasticity, flaccidity, laxity, penetrability, clay, wax, butter, dough, pudding, alumina, argil, cushion, pillow, feather bed, down, padding, wadding, foam, mollification, softening, soft, tender, supple, pliant, pliable, flexible, flexile, lithe, lithesome, lissom, limber, plastic, ductile, tractile, tractable, malleable, extensile, sequacious, inelastic, aluminous, remollient, yielding, flabby, limp, flimsy, doughy, spongy, penetrable, foamy, cushiony, flaccid, flocculent, downy, edematous, oedematous, medullary, argillaceous, mellow, soft as butter, soft as down, soft as silk, yielding as wax, tender as chicken.

Elasticity

N elasticity, springiness, spring, resilience, renitency, buoyancy, rubber, India rubber, Indian rubber, latex, caoutchouc, whalebone, gum elastic, baleen, natural rubber, neoprene, synthetic rubber, Buna- S, plastic, flexibility, Young's modulus, elastic, flexible, tensile, spring, resilient, renitent, buoyant, ductile, stretchable, extendable, the stress is proportional to the strain.