Synonyms

plastic surgery

American

noun

the branch of surgery dealing with the repair or replacement of malformed, injured, or lost organs or tissues of the body, chiefly by the transplant of living tissues.

plastic surgery British

noun

Also called: anaplasty. the branch of surgery concerned with therapeutic or cosmetic repair or re-formation of missing, injured, or malformed tissues or parts

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

plastic surgery Scientific

The branch of surgery that deals with the remodeling, repair, or restoration of body parts, especially by the transfer of tissue.

plastic surgery Cultural

Surgery that repairs or reconstructs a body part. Plastic surgery is used to correct physical defects and to rebuild parts of the body that have been damaged by trauma or disease. Some examples of plastic surgery are breast reconstruction for women who have undergone a mastectomy and skin grafting for burn victims.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

plastic surgeon

noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

plastic surgeries

plural

Etymology

Origin of plastic surgery

First recorded in 1830–40

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:

plastic surgery

The funny thing is, it doesn’t just make you depressed about plastic surgery and sad women and sleazy TV executives.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026

But, contra a nightmare scenario, not everyone is getting plastic surgery.

From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026

The comment was made in response to a snarky Instagram user who accused Holly of undergoing plastic surgery, claiming that her “surgeon did an amazing job.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026