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# polystyrene

«polystyrene» in Mova's school dictionary: **a light plastic** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (polystyrene — uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Polystyrene is a light plastic. The common white kind is full of air bubbles and is used for packaging, cups and food boxes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#m1)

2) Hard clear polystyrene is used for things like plastic cutlery and CD cases. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons it is an insulator that keeps heat in or out and floats; in environment lessons it is hard to recycle and pollutes seas. Phrases: polystyrene cup, polystyrene packaging, polystyrene balls.

### examples

- The TV came packed in polystyrene. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x1)
- A polystyrene cup keeps the tea hot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x2)
- Polystyrene is very light and floats on water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x3)
- We used polystyrene balls to make model planets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x4)
- Polystyrene is hard to recycle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x5)
- Bits of polystyrene were washed up on the beach. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/#x6)

### note

Uncountable. In the USA the foam is often called «Styrofoam», which is a brand name. Say pol-ee-STY-reen. A good thermal insulator but bad for the environment.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «polystyrene» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/polystyrene/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.