Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Free from obstructions; open; clear: in plain view.
- adj. Obvious to the mind; evident: make one's intention plain. See Synonyms at apparent.
- adj. Not elaborate or complicated; simple: plain food.
- adj. Straightforward; frank or candid: plain talk.
- adj. Not mixed with other substances; pure: plain water.
- adj. Common in rank or station; average; ordinary: a plain man.
- adj. Not pretentious; unaffected.
- adj. Marked by little or no ornamentation or decoration.
- adj. Not dyed, twilled, or patterned: a plain fabric.
- adj. Lacking beauty or distinction: a plain face.
- adj. Sheer; utter; unqualified: plain stupidity.
- adj. Archaic Having no visible elevation or depression; flat; level.
- n. An extensive, level, usually treeless area of land.
- n. A broad level expanse, as a part of the sea floor or a lunar mare.
- n. Something free of ornamentation or extraneous matter.
- adv. Informal Clearly; simply: plain stubborn.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Flat; level: smooth; even; free from elevations and depressions: as, a plain surface or country.
- Open; unobstructed by intervening barriers or defenses.
- Easy; free from intricacies or difficulties: as, plain exercises in shorthand.
- Undisguised; frank; sincere; unreserved.
- Clear; evident; manifest; easily perceived or understood: as, to make one's meaning plain; it was plain he was offended.
- Unqualified: undisguised; unmistakable; sheer; downright; absolute.
- Without a figured pattern; unornamented with decorative patterns or designs; also, when applied to fabrics, untwilled or uncolored: as. plain black cloth; plain muslin.
- Void of ornament or bright color; without embellishment; simple; unadorned.
- Without beauty; homely: as, she is plain, but clever.
- Artless; simple; unlearned; without artifice or affectation; unsophisticated.
- Not highly seasoned; not rich; not luxuriously dressed: as, a plain diet.
- Incomplex; simple.
- In card-playing, not trumps; lay: as, a plain card; a plain suit.
- Whole-colored; not variegated: as, plain white eggs.
- Smooth; unstriate, as muscular fiber.
- Embroidery in the same color as the ground.
- Clear, Evident, etc. (see manifest), distinct, patent, unmistakable, unequivocal, unambiguous, explicit, intelligible.
- Unvarnished, unem-bellished.
- n. An extent of level, or nearly level, land; a region not noticeably diversified with mountains, hills, or valleys. The Plains, in North America, are the lands lying between the 104th meridian and the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. This region has a gradual slope from the mountains to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, but is nowhere broken by any conspicuous ranges of hills. It is a region of small precipitation, wooded only along the banks of the streams, and not always there. The Plains and the prairies are not properly the same, from either a geographical or a climato-logical point of view. See
prairie . - n. A field; especially, a field of battle.
- n. An open space surrounded by houses: as, St. Mary's Plain; the Theater Plain, in Norwich.
- In a plain manner; plainly; clearly; openly; frankly; bluntly.
- To make plain, level, or even; smooth; clear.
- To make plain or clear; explain.
- To lament; wail; mourn.
- To whinny: said of a horse.
- To lament; bewail; bemoan; mourn over.
- In old music, said of certain graces or embellishments, like the beat, backfall, etc., when without extension by a shake: opposed to shaked. Also called smooth.
Wiktionary
- adv. colloquial Simply
- v. poetic To lament, bewail.
- n. An expanse of land with relatively low relief.
- n. obsolete A plane.
- v. obsolete, transitive To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
- v. obsolete, transitive To make plain or manifest; to explain.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. Archaic & Poetic To lament; to bewail; to complain.
- v. Archaic & Poetic To lament; to mourn over.
- adj. Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See plane.
- adj. Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
- adj. Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable.
- adj. Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.
- adj. Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common.
- adj. Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank.
- adj. Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple.
- adj. Without beauty; not handsome; homely.
- adj. Not variegated, dyed, or figured.
- adj. Not much varied by modulations.
- adv. In a plain manner; plainly.
- n. Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities
- n. obsolete A field of battle.
- v. rare To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
- v. To make plain or manifest; to explain.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not mixed with extraneous elements
- n. extensive tract of level open land
- adj. not elaborate or elaborated; simple.
- adj. lacking embellishment or ornamentation
- adj. free from any effort to soften to disguise
- adj. clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
- v. express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
- adv. unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly')
- adj. lacking in physical beauty or proportion
- adj. lacking patterns especially in color
- n. a basic knitting stitch
Etymologies
- From Old French plain, from Latin plānum ("level ground, a plain"), neuter substantive from plānus ("level, even, flat"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin plānus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I do for a plain one, therefore I like the _plain ones best_, and I hope that our "good brother Burch's" prophecy, that "the days of 'fancy locomotives' will return," will never be fulfilled until after I go out of the business.”
“They live what they call plain lives, of course, as you well know, not using electricity.”
“WOODRUFF: And just as important, he is hoping to win over you, the voters in the United States, with what he calls plain-spoken words about his priorities.”
“Throughout the episode, however, Robison expressed difficulty understanding why he should be penalized for preaching what he called the plain message of the Bible: "I did not attack an individual or any group, but rather a life-style condemned by the Bible.”
Prime Time Preachers: The Rising Power of Televangelism; with an Introduction by T George Harris
“Possibly, you don't give other people credit for unselfish motives; you are too suspicious; and what you call plain talk may seem impertinence to others -- don't you think?”
“Hence it is necessary for us to realise that these rude and simple worshippers, of all the different forms of worship, really would be bewildered by the ritual dances and elaborate ceremonial antics of John Bull, as by the superstitious forms and almost supernatural incantations of most of what we call plain English.”
“Homer's heaven was an elysium which he describes as a plain at the end of the earth or beneath, with no snow nor rainfall, and the sun never goes down, and Rhadamanthus, the justest of men, rules.”
“It's what you call plain cooking; and bless us all, dinner in the middle of the day, and the children at table.”
“But, Raoul, let us come down to what I call plain reason.”
“That is what I call plain speaking on the part of the old Roman, Mr. Fairford.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘plain’.
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Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
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Beautiful and Ugly
Beautiful, attractive, well-formed
Ugly, unattractive, malformedadorable, alluring, angelic, appealing, appetizing, attractive, beaming, beauteous, beautiful, becoming, beguiling, bewitching and 180 more...
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Landforms
A Cyclopedia of Landforms.
plain, mountain, canyon, cliff, hill, arch, cave, plateau, mesa, butte, chimney, peneplain and 169 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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INTERP - speeches can be...
adequate, adroit, blunt, blurred, committed, divisive, exacerbating, fitting, hollow, lengthy, murky, pronounced and 123 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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Adjectives
sagacious, average, angry, mad, crazy, giant, ugly, pretty, happy, sad, lonely, solitary and 119 more...
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words classifiable in 4 different way...
words classifiable in 4 different ways as a noun, verb, adj and adv
best, better, bitter, broadside, clean, clear, close, cod, collect, counter, crisscross, damn and 39 more...
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Adjectives
Appearance Adjectives
Appearance Adject..., adorable, beautiful, clean, drab, elegant, fancy, glamorous, handsome, long, magnificent, old-fashioned and 5 more...
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Realism
Words to describe the art during the Realist movement
reality, harsh, criticizing, working-class, labor, working, organized, status, satire, dark, masses, ordinary and 45 more...
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Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
mortgage, fiddling, rage, kick, stroke, dodge, hunch, scratch, covetous, rank, trickle, budget and 179 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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newspaper names
Feel free to combine these in any way to create your own newspaper. Use lots of hyphens! (And yes, these are all used at real newspapers.)
times, union, post, dispatch, outlook, star, news, courier, herald, advertiser, daily, eagle and 178 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
Tweets
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