microplastic

noun

mi·​cro·​plas·​tic ˌmī-krō-ˈpla-stik 

plural microplastics

1

: a very small piece of plastic especially when occurring as an environmental pollutant

—usually used in plural

… the microplastics that have made their way into the food chain and even the air we breathe.

—Los Angeles Times

… the Mariana Trench contains the highest levels of microplastics (most likely from clothing, bottles, packaging and fishing gear) yet found in the open ocean, offering irrefutable proof that plastics have penetrated even the most remote places on the planet.

—Rina Li

specifically : a piece of plastic that is five millimeters or smaller in size

Indeed, a handful of sand or cup of seawater from nearly anywhere in the world will probably be peppered with microplastics—pieces that are tinier than a small pea and often invisible.

—Jennifer Ackerman

2

: material consisting of microplastics

Most of that microplastic is coming not from broken down plastic soda bottles or shopping bags but textiles and clothing made of synthetic materials like polyester.

—Dharna Noor

compare nanoplastic

microplastic adjective

microplastic pollution

microplastic debris

Examples of microplastic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mice were given water contaminated with an amount of microplastics proportional to what humans are believed to ingest each week. —Cara Lynn Shultz, Peoplemag, 18 Apr. 2024

Our fact-check sources: Nick Molden, April 1, Interview with USA TODAY Environmental Protection Agency, accessed April 2, Particulate Matter (PM) Basics Los Angeles Times, Oct. 2, 2019, The biggest likely source of microplastics in California coastal waters? —USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024

Our group is now working on limits for two other domains: oceans and chemical pollution such as microplastics. —Joyeeta Gupta, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024

Lazaridis emphasizes that these findings raise concerns about the long-term effect of microplastics and nanoplastics, particularly for young people. —Susan Murphy, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2024

What’s the difference between microplastics and nanoplastics? —Johnny Dodd, Peoplemag, 5 Apr. 2024

As humanity churns out exponentially more plastic in general, so does the environment get contaminated with exponentially more microplastics. —Matt Simon, WIRED, 18 Dec. 2023

Studies have shown that the two biggest contributors of microplastics in the environment are car tires and synthetic clothing. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024

More than three quarters of people in the U.K. are concerned about the impact of microplastics on the environment and human health, according to a new survey. —Jamie Hailstone, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1990, in the meaning defined at sense 1