PLASTIC • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Plastic

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/plˈæstɪk/ Listen

noun

plastic n. A substance composed predominantly of a synthetic organic high polymer capable of being cast or molded; many varieties of plastic are used to produce articles of commerce (after 1900). (MW10 gives origin of word as 1905)

adjective

Plastic adj.

1.

Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator. "See plastic Nature working to his end."

2.

Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.

3.

Pertaining or appropriate to, or characteristic of, molding or modeling; produced by, or appearing as if produced by, molding or modeling; said of sculpture and the kindred arts, in distinction from painting and the graphic arts. "Medallions... fraught with the plastic beauty and grace of the palmy days of Italian art."

Plastic clay (Geol.), one of the beds of the Eocene period; so called because used in making pottery.

Plastic element (Physiol.), one that bears within the germs of a higher form.

Plastic exudation (Med.), an exudation thrown out upon a wounded surface and constituting the material of repair by which the process of healing is effected.

Plastic foods. (Physiol.) See the second Note under Food.

Plastic force. (Physiol.) See under Force.

Plastic operation, an operation in plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery, that branch of surgery which is concerned with the repair or restoration of lost, injured, or deformed parts of the body.

suffix

-plastic suff. A combining form signifying developing, forming, growing; as, heteroplastic, monoplastic, polyplastic.

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Etymology of 'Plastic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plastic" Quotes from Famous Books

... identifications?" Kennon chuckled. Would he? There was no question about it. The address, 200 Central Avenue, was only a few blocks away. In fact, he could see the building from his window, a tall functional block of durilium and plastic, soaring above the others on the street, the sunlight gleaming off its clean square lines. He eyed it curiously, wondering what he would ...

— The Lani People • J. F. Bone

... and perennial fascination in the contemplation of the future. The past is a fixed province, the finished result of an ever-moving present. The future is the province of the poet, the prophet and the seer. The past is adamant, the future is plastic clay. The past is with God alone; the future is with God and man. We toil for it; dream of it; look to it; and all ...

— The Jericho Road • W. Bion Adkins

... art, approached it from so clear an intellectual standpoint. Beethoven through the greatness of his mind was able to enlarge the symphonic form, which had been left by Haydn and Mozart. It became more responsive, more plastic, in his hands. Form in art is the creation of the intellect; what goes into it is the outflow of the heart. Thus Liszt created the Symphonic Poem, and Wagner completely revolutionized the musical ...

— The Loves of Great Composers • Gustav Kobb

... Greece and Rome, as yet little affected by the deeper spiritualism of Asia; he is absorbed in contemplation of the beautiful sensuous aspect of the old nature-worship, as it is represented by poetry and the plastic arts, by singers and sculptors who (one may remark) knew better than to deal with its darker and degrading side, its orgies and unabashed animalism. And we may add that Mr. Swinburne would have done well to follow the example, in this respect, of these great masters of his own art; since ...

— Studies in Literature and History • Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall

... is the true mission of romanticism,—not to break the mould that classicism sought to impose on literary production, but to expand that mould, make it more pliant, more free. A mould, for things living and growing, should be plastic in the passive, as well as in the active, sense of that word,—should accept form, as well as give form. Romanticism will accordingly have won its legitimate victory, not when it shall have destroyed classicism and replaced it, but when ...

— Classic French Course in English • William Cleaver Wilkinson

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