English Explanatory Dictionary

plaintive

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Sounding sorrowful, mournful or melancholic.

Pronunciation

/ˈpleɪntɪv/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-plaintive.wav

Word forms

plaintive more plaintive most plaintive

Etymology

From Middle English pleintif, plentyff, from Old French pleintif (“aggrieved, lamenting”) (whence modern French plaintif), from plainte (“lament, complaint”); see plaint. Doublet of plaintiff.

Synonyms

miserable unhappy cheerless comfortless bleak dark morose depressing desolate dire disconsolate dismal doleful dolesome drear drearisome dreary dreich forlorn gayless gray gloomsome gloomy grim joyless lack-laughter lugubrious melancholy mirthless no joke saturnine solemn somber sombre spiritless sullen sunless uncheerful uncheery unmerry wintry woeful atrabiliary atrabilious blitheless dispirited blue bummed out chapfallen chopfallen crestfallen cut up damp dejected depressed despondent disgruntled disheartened down down in the dumps

Related words

plaint plaintiff

Derived words

plaintively plaintiveness unplaintive
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