Plain

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

Plain, v. i. [OE. playne, pleyne, fr. F. plaindre. See Plaint.].

 To lament; to bewail; to complain.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
"We with piteous heart unto you pleyne."  [1913 Webster]

Plain, v. t. 

 To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss.  Sir J. Harrington.  [1913 Webster]

Plain, a. [F., level, flat, fr. L. planus, perhaps akin to E. floor. Cf. Llano, Piano, Plan, Plane level, a level surface.].

•  Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane.  [1913 Webster]

  "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."  [1913 Webster]
•  Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.  [1913 Webster]

  "Our troops beat an army in plain fight."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.  [1913 Webster]

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.  [1913 Webster]

Plain, n. [Cf. OF. plaigne, F. plaine. See Plain, a.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Descending fro the mountain into playn."  [1913 Webster]

  "Him the Ammonite
  Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain."  [1913 Webster]
•  A field of battle.  Arbuthnot.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lead forth my soldiers to the plain."  [1913 Webster]

Plain, v. t. [Cf. Plane, v.].

•  To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.  [1913 Webster]

  "We would rake Europe rather, plain the East."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make plain or manifest; to explain.  [1913 Webster]

  "What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Plain, adj., adv., & n.
--adj.
1 clear; evident (is plain to see).
2 readily understood; simple (in plain words).
3 a (of food, sewing, decoration, etc.) uncomplicated; not elaborate; unembellished; simple. b without a decorative pattern.
4 (esp. of a woman or girl) ugly.
5 outspoken; straightforward.
6 (of manners, dress, etc.) unsophisticated; homely (a plain man).
7 (of drawings etc.) not coloured (penny plain, twopence coloured).
8 not in code.
--adv.
1 clearly; unequivocally (to speak plain, I don't approve).
2 simply (that is plain stupid).
--n.
1 a level tract of esp. treeless country.
2 a basic knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the back of the stitch and passing the wool round the front of the needle (opp. PURL(1)).

Idiom

be plain with speak bluntly to. plain card neither a trump nor a court-card. plain chocolate dark chocolate without added milk. plain clothes ordinary clothes worn esp. as a disguise by policemen etc. plain-clothes (attrib.) wearing plain clothes. plain cook a person competent in plain English cooking. plain dealing candour; straightforwardness. plain sailing
1 sailing a straightforward course.
2 an uncomplicated situation or course of action. plain service Eccl. a church service without music. plain-spoken outspoken; blunt. plain suit a suit that is not trumps. plain text a text not in cipher or code. plain time time not paid for at overtime rates. plain weaving weaving with the weft alternately over and under the warp.

Derivative

plainly adv. plainness n.

Plain, v.intr. archaic or poet.
1 mourn.
2 complain.
3 make a plaintive sound.

Etymology

ME f. OF plaindre (stem plaign-) f. L plangere planct- lament

THESAURUS

Plain

Attic, Bohemian, Ciceronian, Lebensraum, Mickey Mouse, Spartan, abrupt, absolute, absolutely, affable, agricultural region, air space, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-out, all-pervading, apparent, arable land, articulate, artless, ascetic, audible, austere, back country, bald, bare, baseborn, basic, beautiless, below the salt, billiard table, black belt, blemished, blotted, bluff, blunt, born, born yesterday, bowling green, broad, broad-based, brusque, cacophonic, cacophonous, campestral, campestrian, campo, candid, casual, champaign, chaste, cheerful, childlike, citrus belt, classic, classical, clean, clean-cut, clear, clear as crystal, clear as day, clear space, clear-cut, clearance, 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, humble-visaged, humblest, 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, 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, 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, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, plains, 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, simple-speaking, simplehearted, simpleminded, 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, straight-out, straightforward, 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

ROGET THESAURUS

Plain

Plainness

N plainness, simplicity, severity, plain terms, plain English, Saxon English, household words, plain, simple, unornamented, unadorned, unvarnished, homely, homespun, neat, severe, chaste, pure, Saxon, commonplace, matter-of- fact, natural, prosaic, dry, unvaried, monotonous, in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance, point-blank.

Ugliness

N ugliness, deformity, inelegance, acomia, disfigurement, want of symmetry, inconcinnity, distortion, squalor, forbidding countenance, vinegar aspect, hanging look, wry face, spretae injuria formae, eyesore, object, witch, hag, figure, sight, fright, monster, dog, woofer, pig, octopus, specter, scarecrow, harridan, satyr, toad, monkey, baboon, Caliban, Aesop, monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen adempt, ugly, ugly as sin, ugly as a toad, ugly as a scarecrow, ugly as a dead monkey, plain, bald (unadorned), homely, ordinary, unornamental, inartistic, unsightly, unseemly, uncomely, unlovely, unshapely, sightless, seemless, not fit to be seen, unbeauteous, unbeautiful, beautiless, semibeautiful, shapeless, misshapen, misproportioned, monstrous, gaunt, dumpy, curtailed of its fair proportions, ill-made, ill- shaped, ill-proportioned, crooked, hard featured, hard visaged, ill-favored, hard-favored, evil-favored, ill-looking, unprepossessing, unattractive, uninviting, unpleasing, graceless, inelegant, ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff, rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety, gawky, lumping, lumpish, lumbering, hulky, hulking, unwieldy, squalid, haggard, grim, grim faced, grim visaged, grisly, ghastly, ghost like, death like, cadaverous, grewsome, gruesome, frightful, hideous, odious, uncanny, forbidding, repellant, repulsive, repugnant, grotesque, bizarre, grody, grody to the max, horrid, horrible, shocking, foul, dingy, gaudy, disfigured, discolored.

Simplicity

N simplicity, plainness, homeliness, undress, chastity, simple, plain, homely, homespun, ordinary, household, unaffected, ingenuous, sincere (artless), free from affectation, free from ornament, simplex munditiis, sans facon, en deshabille, chaste, inornate, severe, unadorned, bare, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, unarranged, untrimmed, unvarnished, bald, flat, dull, veritatis simplex oratio est.

Horizontality

N horizontality, flatness, level, plane, stratum, dead level, dead flat, level plane, recumbency, lying down, reclination, decumbence, decumbency, discumbency, proneness, accubation, supination, resupination, prostration, azimuth, plain, floor, platform, bowling green, cricket ground, croquet ground, croquet lawn, billiard table, terrace, estrade, esplanade, parterre, table land, plateau, ledge, butte, mesa (plain), level, spirit level, horizontal, level, even, plane, flat, flat as a billiard table, flat as a bowling green, alluvial, calm, calm as a mill pond, smooth, smooth as glass, recumbent, decumbent, procumbent, accumbent, lying, prone, supine, couchant, jacent, prostrate, recubant, horizontally, on one's back, on all fours, on its beam ends.

Plain

N plain, table-land, face of the country, open country, champaign country, basin, downs, waste, weary waste, desert, wild, steppe, pampas, savanna, prairie, heath, common, wold, veldt, moor, moorland, bush, plateau, campagna, alkali flat, llano, mesa, mesilla, playa, shaking prairie, trembling prairie, vega, meadow, mead, haugh, pasturage, park, field, lawn, green, plat, plot, grassplat, greensward, sward, turf, sod, heather, lea, ley, lay, grounds, maidan, agostadero, champaign, alluvial, campestral, campestrial, campestrian, campestrine.

Visibility

N visibility, perceptibility, conspicuousness, distinctness, conspicuity, conspicuousness, appearance, bassetting, exposure, manifestation, ocular proof, ocular evidence, ocular demonstration, field of view, periscopism, visible, perceptible, perceivable, discernible, apparent, in view, in full view, in sight, exposed to view, en vidence, unclouded, unobscured, in the foreground, obvious, plain, clear, distinct, definite, well defined, well marked, in focus, recognizable, palpable, autoptical, glaring, staring, conspicuous, stereoscopic, in bold, in strong relief, periscopic, panoramic, before one's eyes, under one's eyes, before one, +a vue d'oeil, in one's eye, oculis subjecta fidelibus, visibly, in sight of, before one's eyes, veluti in speculum.

Intelligibility

N intelligibility, clearness, explicitness, lucidity, comprehensibility, perspicuity, legibility, plain speaking, precision, phonanta synetoisy, a word to the wise, intelligible, clear, clear as day, clear as noonday, lucid, perspicuous, transpicuous, luminous, transparent, easily understood, easy to understand, for the million, intelligible to the meanest capacity, popularized, plain, distinct, explicit, positive, definite, graphic, expressive, illustrative, unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable, unconfused, legible, recognizable, obvious, in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, he that runs may read.

Manifestation

N manifestation, plainness, plain speaking, expression, showing, exposition, demonstration, exhibition, production, display, show, showing off, premonstration, exhibit, indication, publicity, disclosure, openness panchement, evidence, manifest, apparent, salient, striking, demonstrative, prominent, in the foreground, notable, pronounced, flagrant, notorious, arrant, stark staring, unshaded, glaring, defined, definite, distinct, conspicuous, obvious, evident, unmistakable, indubitable, not to be mistaken, palpable, self-evident, autoptical, intelligible, plain, clear, clear as day, clear as daylight, clear as noonday, plain as a pike staff, plain as the sun at noon-day, plain as the nose on one's face, plain as the way to parish church, explicit, overt, patent, express, ostensible, open, open as day, naked, bare, literal, downright, undisguised, exoteric, unreserved, frank, plain-spoken, candid (veracious), barefaced, manifested, disclosed, capable of being shown, producible, inconcealable, unconcealable, no secret, manifestly, openly, before one's eyes, under one's nose, to one's face, face to face, above board, cartes sur table, on the stage, in open court, in the open streets, in market overt, in the face of day, face of heaven, in broad daylight, in open daylight, without reserve, at first blush, prima facie, on the face of, in set terms, cela saute aux yeux, he that runs may read, you can see it with half an eye, it needs no ghost to tell us, the meaning lies on the surface, cela va sans dire, res ipsa loquitur, clothing the palpable and familiar, fari quae sentiat, volto sciolto i pensieri stretti, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the.