plastic

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A synthetic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer, whether thermoplastic or thermosetting.

   “Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.”

   “Reducing plastic waste is a crucial problem for today’s environment, and whether it’s recyclable and biodegradable phone cases or sustainable fashion, there are plenty of eco-friendly products that can help you reduce your footprint.”

   “These endocrine disruptors are everywhere: plastics, shampoos, cosmetics, cushions, pesticides, canned foods and A.T.M. receipts. They often aren’t on labels and can be difficult to avoid.”

2. (colloquial, countable, metonymically, uncountable)Credit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.

   “I knew the war between cash and credit cards was over and plastic had won, hands down, when even Mickey D's started taking credit and debit cards.”

   “The surgeon checks your plastic on the phone / a Casio concerto entertains you while you hold”

   “It's all about fast cars and cussing each other / but it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic / and that's what makes my life so fucking fantastic.”

3. (countable, figuratively, slang, uncountable)Insincerity; fakeness; a person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population; a narcissistic, affected person.

   “Cady: You know I couldn't invite you. I had to pretend to be plastic. Janis: Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic.”

   “Tessa: Pretty ironic that a box full of rubbers landed me to a town full of plastic.”

4. (countable, slang)An instance of plastic surgery.

   “Somebody's had a plastic done on his nose, I think, or else somebody bent it out of shape since I last saw it.”

5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A sculptor, moulder.
6. (archaic, countable, uncountable)Any solid but malleable substance.
7. (countable, slang, uncountable)Synonym of Plastic Paddy.

adj

1. Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant.

   “the rage […] betook itself at last to certain missile weapons; which, though from their plastic nature they threatened neither the loss of life or of limb, were, however, sufficiently dreadful to a well-dressed lady.”

   “[A]nd it is highly probable that along with more splendid habits of life entered a more lavish use of the gorgeous stores laid open to the plastic powers of fiction.”

   “Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.”

   “Man tracks and dog tracks, they left a clear imprint on its plastic surface, and came out on an open beach, stretching a mile away to another headland.”

   “While a historical woman obviously dwells at the root of this whole phenomenon, her image has been plastic, allowing the Christian imagination to create widely different Marian symbols and theologies in relation to spiritual and social needs.”

2. (archaic)Producing tissue.
3. (dated)Creative, formative.

   “Benign Creator! let thy plastic hand dispose its own effect”

   “See plastic Nature working to this end.”

4. Capable of adapting to varying conditions; characterized by environmental adaptability.
5. Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material.
6. Made of plastic.

   “A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.”

   “A green plastic watering can / For a fake Chinese rubber plant / In a fake plastic earth / That she bought from a rubber man / In a town full of rubber plans / To get rid of itself”

7. (derogatory, figuratively)Inferior or not the real thing.

   “The Hippie has been replaced by the pseudo-Hippie, the plastic Hippie, the weekend Hippie”

   “People always try to say that we're garage rock, but that scene is so plastic. Some dude in a band has tight jeans, dyed black hair, and a starving girlfriend with bangs, and people call it indie rock. It's so gross.”

   “Frustrated by a globalized music industry force-feeding them plastic pop music, hackers, remixers, and activists began to mobilize...”

8. (figuratively, informal)Fake, insincere, especially in a shallow and conformist way pretending to smoothness and glossy flawlessness.

   “He kissed the white woman once, and it was so artificial, so plastic (that's the word, plastic) that one wondered why did they bother at all.”

   “Then go home and check yourself / You think we're singing 'bout someone else… / But you're plastic people / You gotta go”

   “Plastic people with plastic minds / Are on their way to plastic homes”

   “In fact it seems as though there are two kinds of people in the world: real people and plastic people, as the Flower Children used to say.”

   “But I don't think she would be happy in Los Angeles — it's so plastic and cheap and they expect the women to be whores to get anywhere.”

9. (informal)Escaped from captivity, rather than wild.

   “A superb — and apparently wild, not plastic — Baikal Teal was located at RSPB Greylake in Somerset[.]”

10. (informal)Introduced, rather than native or naturally vagrant.

    “I was checking into my motel while a Red-whiskered Bulbul called outside – a Queensland plastic rarity which was somewhat amusing.”