About The Word Plain

Bay Area Crosswords

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Plain

Plain Meaning & Definition
Plain Definition And Meaning

What's The Definition Of Plain?

[n] a basic knitting stitch
[n] extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of his youth"
[adv] unmistakably; "the answer is obviously wrong"; "she was in bed and evidently in great pain"; "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"; (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly' as in"he is plain stubborn")
[adj] lacking embellishment or ornamentation; "a plain hair style"; "unembellished white walls"; "functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete"
[adj] lacking in physical beauty or proportion; "a homely child"; "several of the buildings were downright homely"; "a plain girl with a freckled face"
[adj] free from any effort to soften to disguise; "the plain and unvarnished truth"; "the unvarnished candor of old people and children"
[adj] comprehensible to the general public; "written for the popular press in plain nontechnical language"
[adj] clearly apparent or obvious to the mind or senses; "the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields"; "evident hostility"; "manifest disapproval"; "patent advantages"; "made his meaning plain"; "it is plain that he is no reactionary"; "in plain view"
[adj] lacking patterns especially in color
[adj] not elaborate or elaborated; simple; "plain food"; "stuck to the plain facts"; "a plain blue suit"; "a plain rectangular brick building"
[adj] not mixed with extraneous elements; "plain water"; "sheer wine"; "not an unmixed blessing"
[adj] lacking stylistic embellishment; "a literal description"; "wrote good but plain prose"; "a plain unadorned account of the coronation"; "a forthright unembellished style"
[v] express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness; "My mother complains all day"; "She has a lot to kick about"

Synonyms | Synonyms for Plain: apparent | apparently | austere | bare(a) | champaign | chaste | complain | direct | dry | evident | evidently | featureless | field | general | homely | inelaborate | kick | knit | knit stitch | kvetch | literal | manifest | manifestly | mere(a) | obvious | obviously | patent | patently | plain stitch | plainly | popular | pure | pure and simple | quetch | self-colored | self-coloured | severe | sheer | simple(a) | solid | sound off | stark | tailored | trim | unadorned | unattractive | undecorated | unelaborate | unembellished | unmingled | unmixed | unornamented | unpatterned | unvarnished

Related Terms | Find terms related to Plain: abrupt | absolute | absolutely | affable | agricultural region | air space | all-embracing | all-encompassing | all-out | all-pervading | apparent | arable land | articulate | artless | ascetic | Attic | audible | austere | back country | bald | bare | baseborn | basic | beautiless | below the salt | billiard table | black belt | blemished | blotted | bluff | blunt | Bohemian | born | born yesterday | bowling green | broad | broad-based | brusque | cacophonic | cacophonous | campestral | campestrian | campo | candid | casual | champaign | chaste | cheerful | childlike | Ciceronian | citrus belt | classic | classical | clean | clean-cut | clear | clear as crystal | clear as day | clear space | clearance | clear-cut | clearing | cockney | coherent | colorless | comfortable | common | commonplace | comprehensive | confiding | congenital | connected | consistent | conspicuous | consummate | contrastive | cordial | corn belt | cotton belt | countryside | cozy | crisp | crystal-clear | crystalline | cushy | dead flat | dead level | deep-dyed | defaced | defined | definite | degage | desert | direct | discernible | discreet | disfigured | distant prospect | distinct | distinctive | down | downright | drab | dry | dull | dust bowl | dyed-in-the-wool | dysphemistic | dysphemized | earth | easy | easy as pie | easygoing | effortless | egregious | elegant | elementary | empty view | esplanade | essential | even | everyday | evident | exhaustive | explicit | express | facile | familiar | farm belt | farm country | farmland | featureless | finished | flat | flatland | flattened | floor | flush | folksy | forthright | frank | frankhearted | free | free and easy | free-speaking | free-spoken | free-tongued | friendly | fruit belt | fundamental | garden | garden-variety | genuine | glade | glaring | glib | graceful | gracile | gracious | graphic | grass roots | grassland | grazing region | ground | guileless | haymish | hearable | heart-to-heart | heath | hi-fi | high-fidelity | highlands | homaloid | homaloidal | homelike | homely | homespun | homey | homish | homogeneous | honest | horizontal | horizontal axis | horizontal fault | horizontal line | horizontal parallax | horizontal plane | horizontal projection | household | humble | humble-looking | humblest | humble-visaged | humdrum | ill-favored | in focus | indisputable | indivisible | indubitable | inelegant | informal | ingenu | ingenuous | inglorious | innocent | innocuous | insipid | intelligible | intensive | intimate | irreducible | irregular | irretrievably | irrevocably | lean | least | Lebensraum | ledge | legible | level | level line | level plane | light | limpid | living space | llano | loose | loud and clear | low | lowborn | lowbred | lowest | lowlands | lowliest | lowly | lucid | luminous | manifest | marred | matter-of-fact | mead | meadows and pastures | mean | mean sea level | mere | Mickey Mouse | modest | monolithic | moor | moorland | moors | mundane | muted | naive | natural | neat | nonclerical | nondescript | nothing to it | noticeable | observable | obvious | of a piece | offhand | offhanded | omnibus | omnipresent | open | open country | open space | open-and-shut | openhearted | ordinary | out-and-out | outback | outright | outspoken | painless | palpable | pampas | parterre | pasture | patent | peaceful | pedestrian | pellucid | perceivable | perceptible | perfect | perfectly | perspicuous | pervasive | plain as day | plains | plain-speaking | plain-spoken | plane | plateau | platform | plebeian | plumb | poetryless | polished | poor | prairie | prairies | primal | primary | prominent | pronounced | prosaic | prose | prosing | prosy | province | provinces | pure | pure and simple | quite | radical | refined | regular | relaxed | restrained | right | rolled | round | rude | rural district | rustic | rustic region | savanna | sea level | sea of grass | seeable | self-evident | self-explaining | self-explanatory | severe | shabby-genteel | sheer | short | short on looks | simon-pure | simple | simple as ABC | simplehearted | simpleminded | simple-speaking | sincere | single | single-hearted | single-minded | small | smooth | smoothed out | smoothened | snug | sober | sociable | soft | spare | Spartan | spoiled | squashed | squashed flat | staring | stark | steppe | steppes | straight | straightforward | straight-out | sweeping | table | tabloid | tabular | tangible | tasteful | teachable | terrace | terrain | territory | terse | the country | the soil | the sticks | third-estate | thorough | thoroughgoing | through-and-through | tiresome | to be seen | tobacco belt | total | translucent | transparent | transpicuous | trim | trodden | trodden flat | trustful | trusting | tundra | ubiquitous | uglified | ugly | ugly as hell | ugly as sin | unadorned | unadulterated | unaesthetic | unaffected | unalluring | unambiguous | unassuming | unattractive | unbeauteous | unbeautiful | unburdensome | unceremonious | unchecked | uncluttered | uncomely | uncomplicated | unconcealed | unconditional | unconfused | unconstrained | unconventional | undecorated | understandable | undifferenced | undifferentiated | undiluted | undisguised | undissembled | undissembling | undistinguished | unelaborate | unembellished | unenhanced | unequivocal | unfeigned | ungarnished | ungenteel | unguarded | unhandsome | unidealistic | uniform | unimaginative | unimpassioned | unimportant | universal | univocal | unlabored | unlovely | unluxurious | unmistakable | unmitigated | unmixed | unofficial | unornamented | unostentatious | unpleasing | unpoetic | unpoetical | unpretending | unpretentious | unpretty | unqualified | unrelievedly | unremarkable | unreserved | unrestrained | unrestricted | unromantic | unsightly | unsophisticated | unstudied | unsuspicious | unvarnished | unwary | uplands | utter | vapid | veld | veldt | veritable | visible | vivid | vulgar | water level | well-defined | well-marked | well-pronounced | well-resolved | wheat belt | wholesale | wide-open spaces | wilderness | wold | woodland | woods and fields | workaday | workday | yokeldom

See Also | backbite | beef | bellyache | bemoan | bewail | bitch | bleat | croak | deplore | dry land | earth | flat | gnarl | gripe | grizzle | grouch | ground | grouse | grumble | hen-peck | holler | inveigh | knitting stitch | lament | land | llano | moor | moorland | murmur | mutter | nag | Olympia | peck | protest | rail | regret | repine | report | scold | simple | snowfield | solid ground | squawk | steppe | terra firma | tundra | unpretentious | unrhetorical | whine | yammer | yawp

Plain In Webster's Dictionary

\Plain\, v. i. [OE. playne, pleyne, fr. F. plaindre. See {Plaint}.] To lament; to bewail; to complain. [Archaic & Poetic] --Milton. We with piteous heart unto you pleyne. --Chaucer.
\Plain\, v. t. To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss. [Archaic & Poetic] --Sir J. Harrington.
\Plain\, a. [Compar. {Plainer}; superl. {Plainest}.] [F., level, flat, fr. L. planus, perhaps akin to E. floor. Cf. {Llano}, {Piano}, {Plan}, {Plane} level, a level surface.] 1. Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See {Plane}. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. --Isa. xl. 4. 2. Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. Our troops beat an army in plain fight. --Felton. 3. Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable. ``'T is a plain case.'' --Shak. 4. (a) Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple. (b) Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common. ``Plain yet pious Christians.'' --Hammond. ``The plain people.'' --A. Lincoln. (c) Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank. ``An honest mind, and plain.'' --Shak. (d) Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple; as, plain food. (e) Without beauty; not handsome; homely; as, a plain woman. (f) Not variegated, dyed, or figured; as, plain muslin. (g) Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune. {Plain battle}, open battle; pitched battle. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {Plain chant} (Mus.) Same as {Plain song}, below. {Plain chart} (Naut.), a chart laid down on Mercator's projection. {Plain dealer}. (a) One who practices plain dealing. (b) A simpleton. [Obs.] --Shak. {Plain dealing}. See under {Dealing}. {Plain molding} (Join.), molding of which the surfaces are plain figures. {Plain sewing}, sewing of seams by simple and common stitches, in distinct from fancy work, embroidery, etc.; -- distinguished also from designing and fitting garments. {Plain song}. (a) The Gregorian chant, or {canto fermo}; the prescribed melody of the Roman Catholic service, sung in unison, in tones of equal length, and rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave. (b) A simple melody. {Plain speaking}, plainness or bluntness of speech. Syn: Level; flat; smooth; open; artless; unaffected; undisguised; frank; sincere; honest; candid; ingenuous; unembellished; downright; blunt; clear; simple; distinct; manifest; obvious; apparent. See {Manifest}.
\Plain\, adv. In a plain manner; plainly. ``To speak short and pleyn.'' --Chaucer. ``To tell you plain.'' --Shak.
\Plain\, n. [Cf. OF. plaigne, F. plaine. See {Plain}, a.] 1. Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies. Descending fro the mountain into playn. --Chaucer. Him the Ammonite Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain. --Milton. 2. A field of battle. [Obs.] --Arbuthnot. Lead forth my soldiers to the plain. --Shak.
\Plain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Plained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Plaining}.] [Cf. {Plane}, v.] 1. To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface. [R.] We would rake Europe rather, plain the East. --Wither. 2. To make plain or manifest; to explain. What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech. --Shak.

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