Meaning & use
plastique explosive
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablemilitarytechnical
A putty-like explosive that can be shaped by hand and is often used by military forces.
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to a piece or type: a plastique explosive. More often uncountable: a stick of plastique explosive.
Patterns
- a stick of plastique explosive
- use plastique explosive
- plant plastique explosive
Soldiers used plastique explosive to destroy the bridge.
The bomb squad found a small amount of plastique explosive in the car.
Plastique explosive is easy to shape, which makes it useful for cutting through metal.
Common combinations
- a stick of plastique explosive
- The sapper placed a stick of plastique explosive against the door.
- plant plastique explosive
- They planned to plant plastique explosive under the railway tracks.
- military-grade plastique explosive
- Only military-grade plastique explosive can cause that kind of damage.
- detonate plastique explosive
- The team detonated the plastique explosive from a safe distance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- plastic explosive
- The more common general term; plastique explosive is a specific borrowed name often used in news and military contexts.
- C4
- A specific type of plastic explosive; plastique explosive is a broader term that can refer to several similar mixtures.
Word family
- plastique noun
- A shorter form for the same explosive, common in informal and news writing.
Commonly confused: plastique explosive or plastic explosive?
plastique explosive vs plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is the standard English term. Plastique explosive is a variant borrowed from French and is less common in everyday speech.
Practice
The soldiers used a stick of _____ to blow open the safe.
Choose one answer.
The phrase a stick of takes a singular uncountable noun, so plastique explosive is correct. Plastic explosive is also possible, but the question tests the headword plastique explosive. Plastique explosives is plural and does not fit after a stick of. Plastique explosive's is possessive and makes no sense here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “plastique explosive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.