plaster
Americannoun
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a composition, as of lime or gypsum, sand, water, and sometimes hair or other fiber, applied in a pasty form to walls, ceilings, etc., and allowed to harden and dry.
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powdered gypsum.
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a solid or semisolid preparation spread upon cloth, plastic, or other material and applied to the body, especially for some healing purpose.
verb (used with object)
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to cover (walls, ceilings, etc.) with plaster.
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to treat with gypsum or plaster of Paris.
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to lay flat like a layer of plaster.
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to daub or fill with plaster or something similar.
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to apply a plaster to (the body, a wound, etc.).
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to overspread with something, especially thickly or excessively.
a wall plastered with posters.
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Informal.
noun
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a mixture of lime, sand, and water, sometimes stiffened with hair or other fibres, that is applied to the surface of a wall or ceiling as a soft paste that hardens when dry
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an adhesive strip of material, usually medicated, for dressing a cut, wound, etc
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short for mustard plaster plaster of Paris
verb
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to coat (a wall, ceiling, etc) with plaster
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(tr) to apply like plaster
she plastered make-up on her face
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(tr) to cause to lie flat or to adhere
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(tr) to apply a plaster cast to
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slang (tr) to strike or defeat with great force
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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plasterernoun
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plasterinessnoun
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replasterverb (used with object)
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unplasterverb (used with object)
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plasterlikeadjective
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plasteryadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plastersimple
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plasterssimple
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have plasteredperfect
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has plasteredperfect
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am plasteringprogressive
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are plasteringprogressive
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is plasteringprogressive
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have been plasteringperfect progressive
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has been plasteringperfect progressive
Past
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plasteredsimple
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had plasteredperfect
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was plasteringprogressive
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were plasteringprogressive
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had been plasteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plaster
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English, from Medieval Latin plastrum “plaster” (both medical and building senses), aphetic variant of Latin emplastrum, from Greek émplastron “salve,” alteration of émplaston, neuter of émplastos “daubed”; see em- 2, -plast
Explanation
Plaster is a building material that's applied as a wet paste and dries very hard and smooth. The walls inside your house might be made of plaster. New houses typically have interior walls made of drywall, rather than plaster, but older homes usually have many plaster surfaces. Plaster starts as a mixture of lime, gypsum, sand, or cement that's mixed with water. This soft substance is applied to surfaces where it hardens — either for walls, works of art, or as casts used to hold broken bones steady. In Britain, a plaster is also a sticky bandage, while an American would call this a Band-Aid.
Vocabulary lists containing plaster
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While there is hope that Rutte's tactics will pay off again in Ankara -- among some there is a sense that it's just a sticking plaster solution.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
Inspired by her family’s produce, she cast real corn, strawberries and cherries in plaster, then made a silicone mold to create copies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Or did his men just plaster up some notices containing the decree across the city, roughly as utility workers warn locals about downed power lines?
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
Most of Gaudí’s original plaster models and plans were destroyed in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, leaving his successors to piece together what they could and fill in the gaps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
When we got it out, it was a plaster bust of The Great Emancipator, President Abraham Lincoln, finished like bronze.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
And compared with the bronzes, the plasters are especially sensitive, fragile—you’re drawn to protect them, but any touch seems like it would be too much for these waifish bodies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Even North Korea, which plasters pictures of leader Kim Jong Un across the country and demands reverence, does not feature him in the passport, which instead depicts sacred Mount Paektu.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
"Lots of things break, lots of things have sticking plasters on them," Jim says.
From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025
He plasters them across the city in hopes of bringing ‘little expressions of joy’ to Angelenos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
Each time this happens, even now, the nuns beam and kiss my cheek and shake my hand and give me fancy certificates that Maman plasters on the cardboard wall at home.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
Posters advertising performers with their mother's surname, such as Waithaka wa Jane and 90K Ka Msoh, are often plastered to hoardings in the capital, Nairobi.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Her anguish is shared outside morgues as well as in hospitals, where photos of missing persons are plastered on walls and utility poles, written on handwritten pieces of paper.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Known, an AI-driven dating app, has their branding plastered on a store front in the Marina District in San Francisco.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
After his second win, that number doubled with “Kimi d’Italia” plastered across the front page.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
His skin is peaked pale, and his fair hair is plastered against his head.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Their candidate, Hannah Spencer, was more than an hour late to meet us after getting stuck in traffic on the way back from a plastering course.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2026
Since early Thursday, BNP backers started gathering in the capital, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman.
From Barron's ● Dec. 25, 2025
To say an animal is experiencing a certain feeling is not plastering a human emotion on an inhuman thing.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2025
And it was allowed to fundraise using the Fire Department’s logo, plastering it on products in its online store.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
People offered huge sums for his mandolin, his paintbrushes, his plastering tools.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
