Plastic /(plăs"tĭk)/

Plas·tic

Plastic

a.
  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.
    — J. S. Harford.

Phrases & Compounds
Plastic clay
one of the beds of the Eocene period; -- so called because used in making pottery.
Plastic element
one that bears within the germs of a higher form.
Plastic exudation
an exudation thrown out upon a wounded surface and constituting the material of repair by which the process of healing is effected.
Plastic foods
See the second Note under Food.
Plastic force
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.

plastic

n.
  1. 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]