PLASMA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plasma mean? 

• PLASMA (noun)
  The noun PLASMA has 3 senses:

1. the colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that contains no cells, but in which the blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended

2. a green slightly translucent variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone

3. (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

  Familiarity information: PLASMA used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLASMA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that contains no cells, but in which the blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

blood plasma; plasm; plasma

Hypernyms ("plasma" is a kind of...):

ECF; extracellular fluid (liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid)

Meronyms (substance of "plasma"):

plasma protein (any of the proteins in blood plasma)

gamma globulin; human gamma globulin (a plasma protein containing the immunoglobulins that are responsible for immune responses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A green slightly translucent variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("plasma" is a kind of...):

calcedony; chalcedony (a milky or greyish translucent to transparent quartz)

Sense 3

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

particles in space exist in the form of a plasma

Hypernyms ("plasma" is a kind of...):

state; state of matter ((chemistry) the three traditional states of matter are solids (fixed shape and volume) and liquids (fixed volume and shaped by the container) and gases (filling the container))

Domain category:

physical chemistry (the branch of chemistry dealing with the physical properties of chemical substances)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plasma"):

interplanetary gas (a rarefied flow of gas and charged particles (plasma) that stream from the sun and form the solar wind)

 Context examples 

This protein plays a role in both cell adhesion and connection of the cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane.

(Moesin, NCI Thesaurus)

"Therefore, the EMIC waves can be used as diagnostic tools to reveal some of the plasma's characteristics."

(Scientists deepen understanding of magnetic fields that surround Earth, National Science Foundation)

This protein is involved in monocarboxylate transport across the plasma membrane.

(Monocarboxylate Transporter 1, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein plays a role in the transport of monocarboxylates across the plasma membrane.

(Monocarboxylate Transporter 5, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in the regulation of gene expression and plays a role in the development of plasma cell myeloma.

(MIR32 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Blocking ACE, Benazepril decreases vasopressive plasma angiotensin II.

(Amlodipine Besylate/Benazepril Hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

The plasma fatty acid composition reflects not only the quality of dietary fat but also the quality of dietary carbohydrate in children's diets.

(Blood Fatty Acids Reveal Your Child's Diet, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

To predict and explain this activity, Strugarek and colleagues developed a model of the plasma, high-energy matter, inside the sun and examined how its flow and change could create magnetic fields.

(Sun's mood swings not so strange after all, Wikinews)

After activation, it can then proliferate and differentiate into memory cells, antibody-secreting cells or plasma cells.

(Activated Lymphocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in the regulation of gene expression and plays a role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, plasma cell myeloma and medulloblastoma.

(MIR19B1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)