plain

An expanse of land with relatively low relief and few trees, especially a grassy expanse.

Adjective archaic, regional

  1. Flat, level.
    • The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 40:4:

    Synonyms: even planar plane

  2. Simple, unaltered.
    • He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
    • a plain tune
    • 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...

    Synonyms: 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

    Antonyms: decorative exotic fancy ornate

    1. Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.

    2. Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.

      • a plain pink polycotton skirt

      Synonyms: 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

    3. Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.

      • They're just plain people like you or me.
      • plain yet pious Christians - 1654, Henry Hammond, Of Fundamentals:
      • the plain people - 1861, Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4th:

      Synonyms: 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

    4. (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?

      Synonyms: 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

    5. (computing) Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).

      Synonyms: 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

  3. Obvious.
    • 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. - 1843 April, Thomas...

    Synonyms: blatant ostensible apparent arrant undoubted glaring bait clear clear as a bell clear as day clear cut conspicuous crystal clear cut and dried decided elucidate evident eyely intuitive manifest notable noticeable obvious open-and-shut

    1. Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.

    2. Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).

      • His answer was just plain nonsense.

      Synonyms: blatant ostensible apparent arrant undoubted glaring bait clear clear as a bell clear as day clear cut conspicuous crystal clear cut and dried decided elucidate evident eyely intuitive manifest notable noticeable obvious open-and-shut

  4. Open.
    • Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.
    • [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...
    • an honest mind, and plain, he must speak truth - c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard,...

    Synonyms: frank sincere earnest fair dinkum forthright upfront foursquare genuine honest legitimate on the level on the up-and-up square straight straight dinkum straightforward true truthful trustworthy up front veracious veridical

    1. Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.

    2. Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.

      • Our troops beat an army in plain fight. - 1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics:
  5. Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
    • Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.
    • 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...

    Antonyms: 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

  6. Not a trump.

Origin

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.

Forms

plainer plainest plaine

Derived

Chianan Plain in plain sight in plain view Jamaica Plain 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

Adjective obsolete

  1. Full, complete in number or extent.

Origin

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.

Forms

plainer plainest

Adverb

  1. Simply.
    • It was just plain stupid.
    • I plain forgot.
    • 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...
  2. Plainly; distinctly.
    • Tell me plain: do you love me or no?

Forms

plaine

Noun Entry 4

  1. An expanse of land with relatively low relief and few trees, especially a grassy expanse.
    • Him the Ammonite / Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain. - 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd...
    • 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...

    Synonyms: flatland grassland prairie steppe

    Hypernyms: land terrain

  2. A broad, flat expanse in general, as of water.
    • 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. - 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam,...
  3. Synonym of field in reference to a battlefield.
    • 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 - 1899, Alexander John Arbuthnot, Lord Clive: The Foundation of British Rule in India:
    • Lead forth my soldiers to the plain. - c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...

    Synonyms: field in reference to a battlefield

  4. Alternative spelling of plane: a flat geometric field.

Origin

From Old French plain, from Latin plānum (“level ground, a plain”), neuter substantive from plānus (“level, even, flat”). Doublet of llano, piano, and plane.

Forms

plains

Related

esplanade explain

Derived

abyssal plain alluvial plain Angas Plains Australia Plains Avon Plains Back Plains Barunah Plains Bell Plain Bohle Plains Boonooroo Plains Boors Plain Boss of the Plains Brodies Plains Browns Plains Bruie Plains Brumby Plains Burt Plain Cecil Plains Central Plain Chances Plain Condamine Plains Cooke Plains Coopers Plains Dairymans Plains

Noun poetic, rare

  1. A lamentation.
    • The warrior-threat, the infant's plain, The mother's screams, were heard in vain; - 1815, Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Isles, Canto IV, part IX:

Origin

From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere.

Forms

plains plein

Verb obsolete, transitive

  1. To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
    • Frownst thou thereat aspiring Lancaster, The sworde shall plane the furrowes of thy browes, - 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London:...
    • We would rake Europe rather, plain the East; - 1612, George Wither, Prince Henrie’s Obsequies, Elegy 24, in Egerton Brydges (editor), Restituta, Volume I, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1814, p. 399, Though...
  2. To make plain or manifest; to explain.
    • What’s dumb in show, I’ll plain with speech. - c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and...

Forms

plains plaining plained

Verb obsolete, reflexive

  1. To complain.
    • Persones and parisch prestes · pleyned hem to þe bischop / Þat here parisshes were pore · sith þe pestilence tyme […]. - c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “[Prologue]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (Cr, B-text),...
  2. To lament, bewail.
    • to plain a loss
    • Shepheards, that wont[…] Oft times to plaine your loves concealed smart - 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “Astrophel. A Pastoral Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip...
    • 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. - 1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in...

Forms

plains plaining plained plein

Related

complain plaint plaintive