plastic

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin plasticus (“of molding”), from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikos), from πλάσσειν (plassein).

Pronunciation

Noun

plastic (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) A sculptor, moulder.
  2. (archaic) Any solid but malleable substance.
  3. A synthetic, thermoplastic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer.
  4. Any similar synthetic material, not necessarily thermoplastic.
  5. (colloquial) credit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.
    • 2008, Lily Allen, The Fear:
      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.
  6. (slang) Fakeness, or a person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population.
    • 2004, Rosalind Wiseman, Tina Fey, Mean Girls:
      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.
    • 2011, Emily Kapnek, Suburgatory:
      Tessa: Pretty ironic that a box full of rubbers landed me to a town full of plastic.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

a stiff but usually slightly flexible synthetic material
any similar synthetic material
credit cards or debit cards

Adjective

plastic (comparative more plastic, superlative most plastic)

  1. Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant. [from 17th c.]
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 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.
    • 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.]
  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; ersatz. [from 20th c.]
    • 1969, Lowell D. Streiker, The gospel of irreligious religion, page 83:
      The Hippie has been replaced by the pseudo-Hippie, the plastic Hippie, the weekend Hippie
    • 2007, Daniel Sinker, We owe you nothing: Punk Planet: the collected interviews, page 238:
      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.
    • 2008, Matt James Mason, The pirate's dilemma: how youth culture is reinventing capitalism:
      Frustrated by a globalized music industry force-feeding them plastic pop music, hackers, remixers, and activists began to mobilize...
  8. (slang) Fake, snobbish. Usually refers to a person.
    • 1966, Calvin C. Hernton, White papers for white Americans‎, page 67:
      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.
    • 1973, Eric Berne, What do you say after you say hello?, page 120:
      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.
    • 2004, Rosalind Wiseman, Tina Fey, Mean Girls:
      Janis: See? That's the thing with you plastics. You think everybody is in love with you when actually, everybody HATES you!
    • 2006, Catherine Coulter, Born to Be Wild‎, page 71:
      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.
    • 2009, Lady Gaga, Paparazzi:
      We're plastic but we'll still have fun!

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material
Capable of adapting to varying conditions
Constructed of plastic
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French

Etymology

From English plastic

Noun

plastic m (plural plastics)

  1. plastic explosive

Derived terms

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Last modified on 3 May 2013, at 22:47