plaster
Americannoun
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plasters
plural
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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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plasters,
present (3rd person singular)
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plastered,
past participle, past
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plastering
present participle
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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:
Telltale signs of water damage include discolored wall panels, black mold, cracking plaster or peeling paint, just to name a few.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The Maryville coach chose “spoofhounds” after the ugly, plaster of Paris dog from a recent carnival.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 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
She reaches into her bag and takes out a small plaster statue of a Black woman dressed in a long blue robe.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
During the renovation, a slip of paper containing the names of architects and plasters responsible for building the theatre was discovered in a glass bottle hidden behind a crown decoration.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
In the plasters, his details are sharper, his jagged surfaces dangerous, his faces more emotive.
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
He plasters them across the city in hopes of bringing ‘little expressions of joy’ to Angelenos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
Housewives of a provident turn of mind filled their cupboards with treacle as a medicine for bad air, and with home-made plasters called Flos Unguentorum for the rheumatics and musk- balls to smell.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Even if you keep up with television, movies and music, it seems to be a lot more word of mouth than historically where things are plastered everywhere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 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
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
Sifting through the evidence, jurors put together a timeline on a whiteboard and plastered the walls with sheets of paper covered in notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
I stepped up to the map plastered onto the wall of the bandstand.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Live wires on her meter were exposed and the plastering close to the outside wall to which it was attached, had come away, leaving it vulnerable to wet weather.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 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
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
Though Cootie could barely move his arms, he’d built the house on his own, teaching himself construction as he went along, hammering the plywood walls and plastering the inside.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
