Plasticism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or condition of being plastic. uncountable, usually

    "The life of ants is crowded with such socialphychological corrections which regulate the mechanism of instinct by individual “plasticisms,” conduct it into useful paths, and thus bring about an adaptation to external advantages and disadvantages."

  2. 2
    The plastic quality of certain artworks, and the theory or movement of art that embodies this quality. uncountable, usually

    "The New York plasticism will be also the plasticism of Paris and Petrograd."

  3. 3
    The ubiquitous use of plastic. uncountable, usually

    "Such an individual will almost certainly have noticed by this time a kind of creeping plasticism in the clothes he wears, the appliances he uses, the furniture he sits on, the car he drives and possibly even the house he lives in."

Example

More examples

"The life of ants is crowded with such socialphychological corrections which regulate the mechanism of instinct by individual “plasticisms,” conduct it into useful paths, and thus bring about an adaptation to external advantages and disadvantages."

Etymology

From plastic + -ism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.