liquid crystal

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various liquids in which the atoms or molecules are regularly arrayed along one or two dimensions, the order giving rise to optical properties, such as anisotropic scattering, associated with the crystals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun chemistry, physics a phase of matter similar to a liquid, in which the molecules are arranged regularly in one or two dimensions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a liquid exhibiting properties of a crystal that are not shown by ordinary liquids