English Explanatory Dictionary

plain

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Flat, level.
  2. Simple, unaltered.
  3. Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
  4. Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
  5. Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
  6. Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
  7. Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
  8. Obvious.
  9. Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
  10. Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
  11. Open.
  12. Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
adv
  1. Simply.
  2. Plainly; distinctly.
noun
  1. An expanse of land with relatively low relief and few trees, especially a grassy expanse.
  2. A broad, flat expanse in general, as of water.
  3. Synonym of field in reference to a battlefield.
  4. Alternative spelling of plane: a flat geometric field.
verb
  1. To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
  2. To make plain or manifest; to explain.
noun
  1. A lamentation.
verb
  1. To complain.
  2. To lament, bewail.
adj
  1. Full, complete in number or extent.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

plān /pleɪn/ [pl̥eɪn] en-us-plain.ogg /plen/ /plein/ /plɛjn/

Word forms

plain plainer plainest plaine plains plaining plained plein

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, and plane.

Synonyms

even planar plane no-frills simple austere bare bare-bones bargain basic cheap default discreet economy elemental elementary essential foundational fundamental incomplex light modest plain pure restrained rudimentary run-of-the-mill slimline spartan standard stripped down stripped uncomplicated unembellished uninvolved unmodified unvarnished vanilla chaste inornate quiet severe unadorned unextravagant unornamented undecked ungarnished untrimmed monochrome unicolor patternless unpatterned normal ordinary average medial bog-standard common commonplace common-and-garden

Antonyms

decorative exotic fancy ornate good-looking repulsive attractive beauteous beautifool beautiful beautimous bona vardering bonnie breathtaking captivating comely cute divine esculent exquisite fair fetching fine-looking good enough to eat handsome heavenly knockout lovely lovesome lustrious nice nice-looking personable pretty prettiful pulchritudinous shapely sheen sightly stunning swanlike well-favoured winsome bad beat butters butt-ugly clapped coyote ugly deform fuckfaced fugly hideous homely like the back end of a bus plug-ugly ugly ugly as sin unattractive uncomely

Related words

esplanade explain complain plaint plaintive

Derived words

in plain sight in plain view just plain folks overplain palaeoplain paleoplain plain and simple plain as a haystack plain as a pikestaff plain as day plain as Dunstable highway plain as porridge plain as print plain as Salisbury plain as the nose on one's face plain ball plain bearing plain bread plain-breasted hawk plain brown wrapper plainchant plain chocolate plain-clothed plainclothed plain clothes plain-clothes plain cook plain dealer plain-dealing plain dealing plain dress plain Dunstable plain English plain film plainfin plain flour plainhead plain-hearted plainish plain Jane plain-laid plain leaf warbler plain line plain loaf plain-looking plainly plain meaning rule plainness plain old plain old data plain old telephone service plain paper plain people plain point plain pug plain radiography plain-sailing plain sailing plain saw plain-saw
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary