plain
//pleɪn//
Forms
- Comparative
- plainer
- Superlative
- plainest
- Plural
- plains
Definitions
1.Simple, unaltered.
- They're just plain people like you or me.
- He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
- Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?
2.Obvious.
- His answer was just plain nonsense.
- 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.
3.Open.
- Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
- Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.
4.Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
- Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.
1.Simply.(colloquial)
- It was just plain stupid.
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.
2.A broad, flat expanse in general, as of water.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3523
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
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.