plain

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Definitions (78)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. adjective Free from obstructions; open; clear: in plain view.
  2. adjective Obvious to the mind; evident: make one's intention plain. See Synonyms at apparent.
  3. adjective Not elaborate or complicated; simple: plain food.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

simple ·  white ·  clear ·  flat

Used in the same contextWord Family

plain:   plainer ·  plainest ·  plains
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin plānus; see pelə-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. I. a. from Middle English plain. playn, pleyn,plaine, playne, pleyne, from Old French plain,F. plain =Provencal Plan-Spanish plano, llano = Pg.plano, lhano = Italian piano, from Latin planus, flat, even, level, plain: see plane, a later form of the same word. II. n. from Middle English plaine, playne, pleyne = Middle Dutch pleine, Dutch plein = German plänc = Danish plæne (from F.); cf. Middle Low German plān = Middle High German plān, plāne, German plan = Swedish plan (from L.); from Old French plain, masculine, plaine, plaigne, French plaine, feminine, = Provencal plana, planha, plaigna = Spanish llano, masculine, plana, feminine, = Portuguese plano, masculine, = Italian piano, masculine, a plain; from Latin planum, level ground, a plain, neuter of planus; level, plane: see I.
  2. from Middle English playn, pleyn; from plain, a.
  3. from Middle English playnen, etc.; from plain, a. Cf. plane, v.
  4. from Middle English plainen, pleinen, pleynen, from Old French pleigner, French plaindre = Provencal planher, plagner, planger, plainer, planer = Spanish plañir = Italian piangere, piagnere, from Latin plangere, lament, beat the breast or head as a sign of grief, literally beat, strike, = Greek πλήσσ, σ1ειν, strike: see plague. Cf. complain.
 

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/pleɪn/
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