English dictionary
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English adjective: plain | |||
| 1. | plain clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment | ||
| Samples | The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields. Evident hostility. Manifest disapproval. Patent advantages. Made his meaning plain. It is plain that he is no reactionary. In plain view. | ||
| Synonyms | apparent, evident, manifest, patent, unmistakable | ||
| Similar | obvious | ||
| Antonyms | unobvious | ||
| 2. | plain not elaborate or elaborated; simple | ||
| Samples | Plain food. Stuck to the plain facts. A plain blue suit. A plain rectangular brick building. | ||
| Similar | austere, bare, chaste, dry, dry, featureless, homely, inelaborate, literal, mere, severe, simple, simple, stark, stern, tailored, trim, unelaborate, vanilla | ||
| See also | simple, unadorned, undecorated, unpretentious, unrhetorical | ||
| Antonyms | fancy | ||
| 3. | plain lacking patterns especially in color | ||
| Synonyms | unpatterned | ||
| Similar | solid-colored, solid-coloured | ||
| Antonyms | patterned | ||
| 4. | plain not mixed with extraneous elements | ||
| Samples | Plain water. Sheer wine. Not an unmixed blessing. | ||
| Synonyms | sheer, unmingled, unmixed | ||
| Similar | pure | ||
| Antonyms | impure | ||
| 5. | plain free from any effort to soften to disguise | ||
| Samples | The plain and unvarnished truth. The unvarnished candor of old people and children. | ||
| Synonyms | unvarnished | ||
| Similar | direct | ||
| Antonyms | indirect | ||
| 6. | plain lacking embellishment or ornamentation | ||
| Samples | A plain hair style. Unembellished white walls. Functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete. | ||
| Synonyms | bare, spare, unembellished, unornamented | ||
| Similar | unadorned, undecorated | ||
| Antonyms | adorned, decorated | ||
| 7. | plain lacking in physical beauty or proportion | ||
| Samples | A homely child. Several of the buildings were downright homely. A plain girl with a freckled face. | ||
| Synonyms | homely | ||
| Similar | unattractive | ||
| Antonyms | attractive | ||
English noun: plain | |||
| 1. | plain (object) extensive tract of level open land | ||
| Samples | They emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain. He longed for the fields of his youth. | ||
| Synonyms | champaign, field | ||
| Broader (hypernym) | dry land, earth, ground, land, solid ground, terra firma | ||
| Narrower (hyponym) | flat, flood plain, floodplain, llano, moor, moorland, peneplain, peneplane, snowfield, steppe, tundra | ||
| Instance hyponym | Nullarbor Plain, Olympia, Serengeti, Serengeti Plain | ||
| 2. | plain (artifact) a basic knitting stitch | ||
| Synonyms | knit, knit stitch, plain stitch | ||
| Broader (hypernym) | knitting stitch | ||
English adverb: plain | |||
| 1. | plain unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly') | ||
| Samples | The answer is obviously wrong. She was in bed and evidently in great pain. He was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list. It is all patently nonsense. She has apparently been living here for some time. I thought he owned the property, but apparently not. You are plainly wrong. He is plain stubborn. | ||
| Synonyms | apparently, evidently, manifestly, obviously, patently, plainly | ||
| Domain usage | colloquialism | ||
English verb: plain | |||
| 1. | plain (communication) express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness | ||
| Samples | My mother complains all day. She has a lot to kick about. | ||
| Synonyms | complain, kick, kvetch, quetch, sound off | ||
| Pattern of use | Somebody ----s. Somebody ----s that CLAUSE | ||
| Narrower (hyponym) | backbite, beef, bellyache, bemoan, bewail, bitch, bitch, bleat, crab, croak, deplore, gnarl, gripe, grizzle, grouch, grouse, grumble, grumble, hen-peck, holler, inveigh, lament, murmur, mutter, nag, peck, protest, rail, repine, report, scold, squawk, whine, yammer, yawp | ||
| Antonyms | chirk up, cheer up, cheer | ||
Based on WordNet 3.0 copyright © Princeton University.
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Web design: Orcapia v/Per Bang. English edition: .
2025 onlineordbog.dk