1. A supposed luminous substance or energy that is said to emanate from a spiritualist medium during a séance.
Usage: spiritualism; often considered pseudoscientific
2. In biology, the outer layer of cytoplasm in a cell, distinct from the inner endoplasm.
Usage: biology; technical

Examples

• The spiritualist claimed that ectoplasms emerged from the medium's body during the séance.
• Skeptics argued that the supposed ectoplasms were nothing more than cheesecloth and illusion.
• In cell biology, ectoplasms form the outer boundary layer of the cytoplasm.
• The researcher studied how ectoplasms differ in structure from the inner cytoplasmic regions.
• Many 19th-century spiritualists reported witnessing ectoplasms as proof of supernatural contact.