Pronunciations (6)
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/pleɪn/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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[pl̥eɪn]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/plen/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/plein/
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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/plen/
Pronunciation notes
- South-Asia
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/plɛjn/
Pronunciation notes
- South-Asia
Adjective
Flat, level.
Usage- Archaic
- Regional
- Examples
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The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
The Vampyre Bat. Tailless bat with the nose plain, and the flying-membrane divided between the thighs.
Simple, unaltered. Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
a plain tune
More examples (1)
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.
Simple, unaltered. Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
- Examples
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a plain pink polycotton skirt
Simple, unaltered. Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
- Examples
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They're just plain people like you or me.
plain yet pious Christians
More examples (1)
the plain people
Simple, unaltered. Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
Usage- of food
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?
Simple, unaltered. Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
Obvious. Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
In fact, by excommunication or persuasion, by impetuosity of driving or adroitness in leading, this Abbot, it is now becoming plain everywhere, is a man that generally remains master at last.
Obvious. Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
- Examples
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His answer was just plain nonsense.
Open. Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
- Examples
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Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.
More examples (1)
[VV]e are able with playne demonſtration to proue, and vvith reaſon to perſvvade that in tymes paſt our fayth vvas alike, that then vve preached thinges correſpondent vnto the forme of faith already published of vs, ſo that none in this behalfe can repyne or gaynesay vs.
an honest mind, and plain, he must speak truth
More examples (1)
The Quaker was no sooner assured by this fellow of the birth and low fortune of Jones, than all compassion for him vanished; and the honest plain man went home fired with no less indignation than a duke would have felt at receiving an affront from such a person.
Open. Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
- Examples
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Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.
More examples (1)
Up to that time the girl had never really done her hair, and she regarded boots merely as things to protect the feet. Suddenly it dawned on her that she was considered plain and that she diffused an atmosphere of intellectual frost.
Not a trump.
Adverb
Simply.
Usage- Colloquial
- not-comparable
- Examples
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It was just plain stupid.
I plain forgot.
More examples (1)
One trouble, he explained, is that dope pushers flock to neighborhoods where two gangs are at war, knowing they will find buyers among members of the gangs who are so keyed up that they welcome any kind of relaxation or who are just plain afraid.
Plainly; distinctly.
Usage- Archaic
- not-comparable
- Examples
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Tell me plain: do you love me or no?
Noun
An expanse of land with relatively low relief and few trees, especially a grassy expanse.
- Examples
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Him the Ammonite / Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain.
More examples (1)
1961, J. A. Philip. Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato. In: Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association 92. p. 467. For Plato the life of the philosopher is a life of struggle towards the goal of knowledge, towards “searching the heavens and measuring the plains, in all places seeking the nature of everything as a whole”
A broad, flat expanse in general, as of water.
- Examples
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Fair ship, that from the Italian shore, Sailest the placid ocean-plains With my lost Arthur’s loved remains, Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er.
Synonym of field in reference to a battlefield.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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You have stormed no town and found the money there ; neither did you find it in the plains of Plassey after the defeat of the Nawab
Lead forth my soldiers to the plain.
Verb
To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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Frownst thou thereat aspiring Lancaster, The sworde shall plane the furrowes of thy browes,
We would rake Europe rather, plain the East;
To make plain or manifest; to explain.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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What’s dumb in show, I’ll plain with speech.
Noun
A lamentation.
Usage- Poetic
- Rare
- Examples
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The warrior-threat, the infant's plain, The mother's screams, were heard in vain;
Verb
To complain.
Usage- Obsolete
- Reflexive
- Examples
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Persones and parisch prestes · pleyned hem to þe bischop / Þat here parisshes were pore · sith þe pestilence tyme […].
To lament, bewail.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
- Archaic
- Poetic
- Examples
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to plain a loss
Shepheards, that wont[…] Oft times to plaine your loves concealed smart
More examples (3)
Thy mother could thee for thy cradle set Her husband's rusty iron corselet; Whose jargling sound might rock her babe to rest, That never plain'd of his uneasy nest.
Then, again, she almost thought that the soft and wailing wind which swept mournfully through the sepulchral boughs of the large old yews, had a voice not of this world—was it the inarticulate plaining of her brother's gentle spirit, debarred from intercourse, but still keeping over her the deep and eternal watch of love?
Then came I crying, and to-day, / With heavier cause to plain, / Depart I into death away, / Not to be born again.
Adjective
Full, complete in number or extent.
Usage- Obsolete
Adjective
clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
- Examples
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the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields
evident hostility
More examples (6)
manifest disapproval
patent advantages
made his meaning plain
it is plain that he is no reactionary
in plain view
a palpable lie
not elaborate or elaborated; simple
- Antonyms
- Examples
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plain food
stuck to the plain facts
More examples (2)
a plain blue suit
a plain rectangular brick building
lacking patterns especially in color
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
not mixed with extraneous elements
- Examples
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plain water
sheer wine
More examples (1)
not an unmixed blessing
free from any effort to soften to disguise
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the plain and unvarnished truth
the unvarnished candor of old people and children
lacking embellishment or ornamentation
- Examples
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a plain hair style
unembellished white walls
More examples (1)
functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
lacking in physical beauty or proportion
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a homely child
several of the buildings were downright homely
More examples (1)
a plain girl with a freckled face
Noun
extensive tract of level open land
- Broader terms
- Examples
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they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain
he longed for the fields of his youth
a basic knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the front of the stitch from the lefthand side
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Adverb
unmistakably (‘plain’ is often used informally for ‘plainly’)
- Examples
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the answer is obviously wrong
she was in bed and evidently in great pain
More examples (6)
he was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list
it is all patently nonsense
she has apparently been living here for some time
I thought he owned the property, but apparently not
You are plainly wrong
he is plain stubborn
Verb
express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
- Broader terms
- Examples
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My mother complains all day
She has a lot to kick about