plain

Meanings

Adjective

• Flat, level.
• Simple.
• Obvious.
• Open.
• Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
• Not a trump.

Adverb

• Simply.
• Plainly; distinctly.

Noun

• A lamentation.
• An expanse of land with relatively low relief, usually exclusive of forests, deserts, and wastelands.
• Synonym of field in reference to a battlefield.
• Alternate spelling of plane: a flat geometric field.

Verb

• To complain.
• To lament, bewail.
• To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
• To make plain or manifest; to explain.

Related

Similar words

• monochrome
• normal, ordinary

Opposite words

• bells and whistles
• decorative
• exotic
• fancy
• ornate

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").
• From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere, present active infinitive of plangō.
• From Old French plain, from Latin plānum, neuter substantive from plānus. llano, piano, and plane.