plaque
a thin, flat plate or tablet of metal, porcelain, etc., intended for ornament, as on a wall, or set in a piece of furniture.
an inscribed commemorative tablet, usually of metal placed on a building, monument, or the like.
a platelike brooch or ornament, especially one worn as the badge of an honorary order.
Anatomy, Pathology. a flat, often raised, patch on the skin or other organ, as on the inner lining of arterial walls in atherosclerosis.
Dentistry. a soft, sticky, whitish matlike film attached to tooth surfaces, formed largely by the growth of bacteria that colonize the teeth.
Bacteriology. a cleared region in a bacterial culture, resulting from lysis of bacteria by bacteriophages.
Origin of plaque
1Words that may be confused with plaque
- plague, plaque
Words Nearby plaque
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use plaque in a sentence
On the numerous local excursions I’ve made since last March, I’ve taken in architectural details — in buildings, in bridges, in subways — and spotted historical plaques on streets I’ve walked countless times.
Alfred Kazin’s “A Walker in the City” charts an intellectual awakening, block by block | Liza Weisstuch | March 4, 2021 | Washington PostIn 2012, around the time of the 70th anniversary of the transport, the author was living in Europe and visited the train station at Poprad, where she found a plaque dedicated to the memory of the girls with candles lit around it.
How One Writer Uncovered the Lost Histories of 999 Women and Girls Who Were Sent to Auschwitz | Suyin Haynes | January 27, 2021 | TimeWhen the Guinness World Records awarded him a plaque for having the strangest diet, he ate that too.
In Giaime’s office at the end of the tour, he pointed to a plaque on his wall.
Indeed, the scans of those who reported less or compromised sleep showed higher levels of amyloid plaques than the scans of those who slept better.
‘A Rinsing of the Brain.’ New Research Shows How Sleep Could Ward Off Alzheimer's Disease | Alice Park | August 6, 2020 | Time
Added to drinking water at concentrations of around one part per million, fluoride ions stick to dental plaque.
The quote appears on the bronze plaque the players touch before they take the field for home games.
The plaque honoring “la Nueve” speaks to how memory is often overlaid by the hedging of history.
Lactobacillus reuteri LR-1 or LR-2 promote oral health by binding to teeth and gums, preventing plaque formation in the mouth.
The percussion rolls like thunder, the woodwinds climax, the camera swoops upward, and we see the brass plaque: The Olive Garden.
Frank Underwood Will Not Tolerate Insubordination in This Olive Garden | Kelly Williams Brown | February 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA plaque upon a red corpuscle is surrounded by a colorless zone rather than by a distinct blue body.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddFig. 38 represents portions of a bronze plaque from that country, used on a ceinture or belt.
The Swastika | Thomas WilsonThe aboriginal women of Brazil wore a triangular shield or plaque over their private parts.
The Swastika | Thomas WilsonFedora sauntered slowly around the rooms, leaning over and staking a gold plaque here and there.
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo | E. Phillips OppenheimThis plaque was stolen, I believe, while the other riches were gifts from King Montezuma.
Roger the Bold | F. S. Brereton
British Dictionary definitions for plaque
/ (plæk, plɑːk) /
an ornamental or commemorative inscribed tablet or plate of porcelain, wood, etc
a small flat brooch or badge, as of a club, etc
pathol any small abnormal patch on or within the body, such as the typical lesion of psoriasis
short for dental plaque
bacteriol a clear area within a bacterial or tissue culture caused by localized destruction of the cells by a bacteriophage or other virus
Origin of plaque
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for plaque
[ plăk ]
A small disk-shaped formation or growth; a patch.
A film of mucus and bacteria on the surface of the teeth.
A deposit of material in a bodily tissue or organ, especially one of the fatty deposits that collect on the inner lining of an artery wall in atherosclerosis or one of the amyloid deposits that accumulate in the brain in Alzheimer's disease.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for plaque
[ (plak) ]
A thin film composed of bacteria, mucus, and food particles that forms on the surfaces of teeth. Plaque contributes to tooth decay and gum disease. Plaque also refers to a combination of cholesterol and lipids that can accumulate on the inside of arteries, causing atherosclerosis.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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