Often plastics. any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials, as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving. They are often known by trademark names, as Bakelite, Vinylite, or Lucite.
a credit card, or credit cards collectively, usually made of plastic: He had a whole pocketful of plastic.
money, payment, or credit represented by the use of a credit card or cards.
something, or a group of things, made of or resembling plastic: The entire meal was served on plastic.
adjective
made of plastic.
capable of being molded or of receiving form: clay and other plastic substances.
produced by molding: plastic figures.
having the power of molding or shaping formless or yielding material: the plastic forces of nature.
being able to create, especially within an art form; having the power to give form or formal expression: the plastic imagination of great poets and composers.
Fine Arts.
concerned with or pertaining to molding or modeling; sculptural.
relating to three-dimensional form or space, especially on a two-dimensional surface.
pertaining to the tools or techniques of drawing, painting, or sculpture: the plastic means.
characterized by an emphasis on formal structure: plastic requirements of a picture.
pliable; impressionable: the plastic mind of youth.
giving the impression of being made of or furnished with plastic: We stayed at one of those plastic motels.
artificial or insincere; synthetic; phony: jeans made of cotton, not some plastic substitute; a plastic smile.
lacking in depth, individuality, or permanence; superficial, dehumanized, or mass-produced: a plastic society interested only in material acquisition.
of or relating to the use of credit cards: plastic credit; plastic money.
any one of a large number of synthetic usually organic materials that have a polymeric structure and can be moulded when soft and then set, esp such a material in a finished state containing plasticizer, stabilizer, filler, pigments, etc. Plastics are classified as thermosetting (such as Bakelite) or thermoplastic (such as PVC) and are used in the manufacture of many articles and in coatings, artificial fibres, etcCompare resin (def. 2)
1630s, "capable of shaping or molding," from Latin plasticus, from Greek plastikos "able to be molded, pertaining to molding, fit for molding," also in reference to the arts, from plastos "molded, formed," verbal adjective from plassein "to mold" (see plasma). Surgical sense of "remedying a deficiency of structure" is first recorded 1839 (in plastic surgery). Meaning "made of plastic" is from 1909. Picked up in counterculture slang with meaning "false, superficial" (1963). Plastic explosive (n.) attested from 1894.
n.
1905, "solid substance that can be molded," originally of dental molds, from plastic (adj.). Main current meaning, "synthetic product made from oil derivatives," first recorded 1909, coined by Leo Baekeland (see bakelite).
Any of various organic compounds produced by polymerization, capable of being molded, extruded, cast into various shapes and films, or drawn into filaments used as textile fibers.
Any of numerous substances that can be shaped and molded when subjected to heat or pressure. Plastics are easily shaped because they consist of long-chain molecules known as polymers, which do not break apart when flexed. Plastics are usually artificial resins but can also be natural substances, as in certain cellular derivatives and shellac. Plastics can be pressed into thin layers, formed into objects, or drawn into fibers for use in textiles. Most do not conduct electricity well, are low in density, and are often very tough. Polyvinyl chloride, methyl methacrylate, and polystyrene are plastics. See more at thermoplasticthermosetting.
