plaster
Americannoun
-
plasters
plural
-
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.
-
powdered gypsum.
-
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)
-
plasters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
plastered,
past participle, past
-
plastering
present participle
-
to cover (walls, ceilings, etc.) with plaster.
-
to treat with gypsum or plaster of Paris.
-
to lay flat like a layer of plaster.
-
to daub or fill with plaster or something similar.
-
to apply a plaster to (the body, a wound, etc.).
-
to overspread with something, especially thickly or excessively.
a wall plastered with posters.
-
Informal.
noun
-
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
-
an adhesive strip of material, usually medicated, for dressing a cut, wound, etc
-
short for mustard plaster plaster of Paris
verb
-
to coat (a wall, ceiling, etc) with plaster
-
(tr) to apply like plaster
she plastered make-up on her face
-
(tr) to cause to lie flat or to adhere
-
(tr) to apply a plaster cast to
-
slang (tr) to strike or defeat with great force
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
plasterernoun
-
plasterinessnoun
-
replasterverb (used with object)
-
unplasterverb (used with object)
-
plasterlikeadjective
-
plasteryadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
plastersimple
-
plasterssimple
-
have plasteredperfect
-
has plasteredperfect
-
am plasteringprogressive
-
are plasteringprogressive
-
is plasteringprogressive
-
have been plasteringperfect progressive
-
has been plasteringperfect progressive
Past
-
plasteredsimple
-
had plasteredperfect
-
was plasteringprogressive
-
were plasteringprogressive
-
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:
Jacobs’ residence is constructed from stone and plaster, with a slate roof and copper trim.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
She suggests looking for affordable vintage oil paintings, exhibition posters or framed sketches at antique markets, then securing them with command strips so they can be removed without leaving holes in the plaster.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
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
When Saint-Gaudens showed a plaster cast of it at the 1900 Paris Exposition, Auguste Rodin, then the most famous sculptor in Europe, stopped before it, removed his hat and stood in silent tribute.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The standard way to paint a fresco—a painting on a wall—is to use water-based paints on fresh plaster.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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
"Teachers have been putting sticking plasters on education for too long," she said.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2025
He plasters them across the city in hopes of bringing ‘little expressions of joy’ to Angelenos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
All of the commonly used sanitary equipment such as paper, cotton, surgical masks, and commercial plasters exhibited intrinsic multi-pathway antibacterial activity with rapid responses against a broad spectrum of microbial species.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 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
The pictures plastered outside the truck made Montgomery feel like she was in an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
At first, his tracks were posted anonymously on SoundCloud, as a way to separate the art from the dozens of images of him seasonally plastered in Supreme advertisements.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
However, according to local authorities, Zheng'an as a whole manufactures 2.5 million a year, living up to the name plastered on banners across town: "Capital of Guitars, City of Music".
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
The official sponsors of the World Cup pay eye-watering sums to associate brands with the competition, but no doubt end up benefiting financially, with the likes of Adidas and Coca-Cola plastered everywhere.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
“The last time I helped you ‘mobilize the student body,’ I got my face plastered on everyone’s computer screens.”
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
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
At home in this milieu, Parker mastered the art of grassroots promotion, of pulling in large crowds by plastering the town with loud, hyperbolic placards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 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
"I have a croft house I am trying to do up, so I might do some plastering."
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2025
We roared up the road, plastering our faces to the car windows, looking for any sign of our wayward Auk.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
