ectoplasm

American  

[ek-tuh-plaz-uhm] / ˈɛk təˌplæz əm /

noun

1. Biology. the outer portion of the cytoplasm of a cell.

2. Spiritualism. the supposed emanation from the body of a medium.

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ectoplasm British  

/ ˈɛktəʊˌplæzəm /

noun

1. cytology the outer layer of cytoplasm in some cells, esp protozoa, which differs from the inner cytoplasm in being a clear gel See also endoplasm

2. spiritualism the substance supposedly emanating from the body of a medium during trances

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Other Word Forms

• ectoplasmatic adjective
• ectoplasmic adjective

Etymology

Origin of ectoplasm

First recorded in 1880–85; ecto- + -plasm

Explanation

Ectoplasm is the very thin, watery outer layer of a cell. Biologists use the word ectoplasm primarily to talk about amoebas. Ectoplasm and endoplasm, or "dense inner section," are found in the tiny cells known as amoebas. An amoeba's movements are a result of the way these inner and outer layers fit together. A much less scientific meaning of ectoplasm is "visible spiritual energy." 19th- and early 20th-century spiritualists claimed that a gauzy ectoplasm formed during trance states, a visual connection between living and spirit worlds. This ectoplasm was often proven to be made of cheesecloth.

Example Sentences

Some of them, like me, were journalists who had dutifully showed up to watch Tiffany Haddish trade wisecracks with digital ectoplasm.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2023

The character of France is like a filmic ectoplasm of us and who we are, and it is in that world of the film of us that is artificial and natural.

From Salon • Dec. 9, 2021

It glows from within, pulses gently and sometimes releases tentacles of dripping, green ectoplasm.

From Washington Post • Mar. 20, 2019

The glorious ghosts who walk the halls of the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center have greasepaint in their ectoplasm, and they do hope you’ll like what they do.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2017

A delicate layer of ectoplasm surrounds the granular endoplasm, and pseudopodia formation is eruptive, beginning with the accumulation of ectoplasm.

From Marine Protozoa from Woods Hole Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 21:415-468, 1901 by Calkins, Gary N. (Gary Nathan)