plain
/pleɪn/ adjective, adverb, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms plainer plainest plains plaining plained plaine plein
- adjective (now rare, regional) Flat, level.
- adjective Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished. “He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.”
- adjective Of just one colour; lacking a pattern. “a plain pink polycotton skirt”
- adjective Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary. “They're just plain people like you or me.”
- adjective (of food) Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras. “Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?”
- adjective (computing) Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
- adjective Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
- adjective Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier). “His answer was just plain nonsense.”
- adverb (colloquial) Simply. “It was just plain stupid.”
- adverb (archaic) Plainly; distinctly. “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.
- noun A broad, flat expanse in general, as of water.
- noun (archaic) Synonym of field in reference to a battlefield.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To make plain or manifest; to explain.
- noun (rare, poetic) A lamentation.
- verb (reflexive, obsolete) To complain.
- verb (ambitransitive, now rare, poetic) To lament, bewail. “to plain a loss”
- adjective (obsolete) Full, complete in number or extent.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
even planar plane no-frills simple austere bare bare-bones bargain basic cheap default discreet economy elemental elementary essential foundational fundamental incomplex field champaign knit knit stitch plain stitch complain kick sound off quetch kvetch
Antonyms
decorative exotic fancy ornate good-looking repulsive attractive beauteous beautifool beautiful beautimous bona vardering patterned
Etymology
From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleyn, playn, Middle French plain, plein, and Old French plain, from Latin plānus (“flat, even, level, plain”). Doublet of llano, piano, plane, and plan.
From Old French plain, from Latin plānum (“level ground, a plain”), neuter substantive from plānus (“level, even, flat”). Doublet of llano, piano, and plane.
From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere.
From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Old French plein, from Latin plēnus (“full, filled, complete”). Ultimately from Proto-Italic *plēnos, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”). Doublet of plene, plenary, and full.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To lament; to bewail; to complain. [Archaic & Poetic] Milton.
- verb To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss. [Archaic & Poetic] Sir J. Harrington.
- adjective Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane.
- adjective Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
Etymology [OE. playne, pleyne, fr. F. plaindre. See Plaint.]
Etymology [F., level, flat, fr. L. planus, perhaps akin to E. floor. Cf. Llano, Piano, Plan, Plane level, a level surface.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plain”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details