plain Meaning & Definition

Synonyms of Plain

Antonyms of Plain

Plain in a Sentence

He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.

a plain tune

a plain pink polycotton skirt

They're just plain people like you or me.

Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?

His answer was just plain nonsense.

Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.

Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.

It was just plain stupid.

I plain forgot.

Tell me plain: do you love me or no?

to plain a loss

There are several species of wild flowers growing in this field.

A crop circle was made in a corn field.

it's perfectly plain that they will resist

let me make my meaning plain

plain talk

plain home-cooked meals

… saw them clearly and told you plain.

plain wrong

I like my hamburgers plain, with no ketchup or relish

just give us the plain facts and none of your snide comments

I'd prefer my pasta plain, not flavored with tomato or spinach or anything else

their piano teacher is honest and plain, if not always tactful

a plain report on the current situation

told her plain that he loved her

the first settlers in that area lived on the vast plains in lonely log cabins

the vast plains of snow-covered earth that seemed to stretch endlessly

Word Forms & Grammar

plain·ly adverb

plain·ness noun

plain

plainer

plainest

plainly

plainness

plainnesses

plains

plained

plain·ing

plaining

plain (comparative plainer, superlative plainest)

plain (not comparable)

plain (plural plains)

plain (third-person singular simple present plains, present participle plaining, simple past and past participle plained)

Words That Rhyme With Plain

Origin of Plain

Origin 1: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin planum, from neuter of planus flat, plain floor

Origin 2: partly from Middle English plein entire, complete, from Anglo-French, full, from Latin plenus; partly from plain:3 full

Origin 3: Middle English, from Anglo-French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere to lament plaint

Origin 4: 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, plane, and plan.

Origin 5: From Old French plain, from Latin plānum (“level ground, a plain”), neuter substantive from plānus (“level, even, flat”). Doublet of llano, piano, and plane.

Origin 6: From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere.

Origin 7: 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.

First Known Use

14th century