plasma
noun
Simple meaning
A clear component of blood or lymph containing fibrin.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
plazmuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈplæzmə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
physicsphysical chemistry
A fourth state of matter distinct from solid or liquid or gas and present in stars and fusion reactors; a gas becomes a plasma when it is heated until the atoms lose all their electrons, leaving a highly electrified collection of nuclei and free electrons
“Particles in space exist in the form of a plasma.”
hematology
A clear component of blood or lymph containing fibrin.
computer graphicsdemoscene
A visual effect in which cycles of changing colours are warped in various ways to give the illusion of liquid organic movement.
physics
A state of matter consisting of partially ionized gas and electrons.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (physical chemistry) a fourth state of matter distinct from solid or liquid or gas and present in stars and fusion reactors; a gas becomes a plasma when it is heated until the atoms lose all their electrons, leaving a highly electrified collection of nuclei and free electrons
Used this way, plasma is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
“Particles in space exist in the form of a plasma.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The branch of physics concerned with matter in its plasma phase.
Any of the proteins in blood plasma.
Coagulation factor whose deficiency results in a hemorrhagic tendency.
A thin membrane (a double layer of lipids) enclosing the cytoplasm of a cell.
A cell that develops from a B lymphocyte in reaction to a specific antigen.
Pneumonia occurring in infants or in persons with impaired immune systems (as AIDS victims).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- confinementnoun
- urinenoun
- albuminnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.