plastic

«plastic» in Mova's school dictionary: A light, strong material made in factories, often from… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (plastic, plastics); adjective (plastic — made of plastic; easily shaped)

meaning for a pupil

1) A light, strong material made in factories, often from oil, used for bottles, toys and bags. tree →

2) As an adjective, made of plastic: "a plastic cup". tree →

3) As an adjective, easy to bend and shape. tree →

4) (Informal) Credit or bank cards: "pay with plastic". tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, plastic is a material: waterproof, light, can be bent or moulded, an insulator (does not carry electricity); it takes hundreds of years to break down, so reduce, reuse and recycle; plastic in the sea hurts animals. In safety: keep plastic bags away from babies. Phrases: plastic bag, plastic bottle, single-use plastic, plastic surgery.

examples

• This bottle is made of plastic. tree →
• Plastic does not let electricity through. tree →
• Recycle your plastic bottles. tree →
• Plastic in the sea can hurt turtles. tree →
• Keep plastic bags away from babies. tree →
• Lego bricks are plastic. tree →
• Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down. tree →
• Use a reusable bag instead of a plastic one. tree →

note

Usually uncountable as a material: "made of plastic"; "plastics" for kinds. Plastic is an insulator, so plugs and wires are covered in it. Plastic surgery doesn't use plastic; "plastic" there means "shaping".

In the corpora

• Councils have recycling rules about which bin takes plastic, paper, glass or food, and the rules differ from place to place.
• Acrylic becomes plastic when dry and does not wash out easily, so artists wear old clothes or aprons.
• A floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish to a leatherback, which is one big reason to keep plastic out of the sea.
• Sea turtles eat jellyfish, and floating plastic bags look like jellyfish, so turtles sometimes swallow plastic, which can block their stomachs.
• Animals can get their heads or beaks caught in plastic drink rings, so cutting the rings before throwing them away helps.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «plastic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.