plasma - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Plasma is the colorless liquid part of blood. Plasma holds blood cells but is not made from them.

Plasma, a crucial part of blood, can be donated for use in medical procedures, either from plasma donation or as part of a regular blood donation. Another meaning of plasma is in physical chemistry –- a state of matter (in fact the most common state of matter) made from a gas that has lost its electrons from heat. This is where those big-screen plasma televisions get their name from.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: plasma

1	n	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	n	(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
3	n	a green slightly translucent variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: plasma

1

n 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

Synonyms:: blood plasma, plasm

Type of:: ECF, extracellular fluid
liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid

2

n (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

“particles in space exist in the form of a plasma”

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

Type 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)

3

n a green slightly translucent variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone

Type of:: calcedony, chalcedony
a milky or greyish translucent to transparent quartz