plain

Definition of plain

Adjectives

clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment

"made his meaning plain"

"it is plain that he is no reactionary"

"in plain view"

Synonyms:: apparent, evident, manifest, patent, unmistakable; obvious
easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind

not elaborate or elaborated; simple

"plain food"

"stuck to the plain facts"

"a plain blue suit"

"a plain rectangular brick building"

Synonyms:: unadorned, undecorated
not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction; unpretentious
lacking pretension or affectation; unrhetorical
not rhetorical; simple
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved; austere, severe, stark, stern
severely simple; bare, mere
apart from anything else; without additions or modifications; chaste
pure and simple in design or style; dry
(of food) eaten without a spread or sauce or other garnish; featureless
lacking distinguishing characteristics or features; homely
plain and unpretentious; inelaborate, unelaborate
not elaborate; lacking rich or complex detail; literal
avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis); tailored, trim
severely simple in line or design; vanilla
plain and without any extras or adornments

Antonyms:: fancy
not plain; decorative or ornamented; adorned, decorated
provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction; rhetorical
given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought; aureate, flamboyant, florid
elaborately or excessively ornamented; baroque, churrigueresco, churrigueresque
having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation; busy, fussy
overcrowded or cluttered with detail; dressy
in fancy clothing; crackle
having the surface decorated with a network of fine cracks, as in crackleware; damascene
(of metals) decorated or inlaid with a wavy pattern of different (especially precious) metals; damask
having a woven pattern; elaborate, luxuriant
marked by complexity and richness of detail; battlemented, castellated, castled, embattled
having or resembling repeated square indentations like those in a battlement; fanciful
having a curiously intricate quality; fantastic
extravagantly fanciful in design, construction, appearance; lacelike, lacy
made of or resembling lace; puff, puffed
gathered for protruding fullness; rococo
having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation; vermicular, vermiculate, vermiculated
decorated with wormlike tracery or markings; show more antonyms...

lacking patterns especially in color

Synonyms:: unpatterned; solid-colored, solid-coloured
having the same color all over

Antonyms:: patterned
having patterns (especially colorful patterns); banded
marked with bands or strips of contrasting color or texture; black-and-tan
having a pattern of black and tan; black-barred
having a pattern consisting of black bars; black-marked
having black marks; blotched, blotchy, splotched
marked with irregularly shaped spots or blots; brinded, brindle, brindled, tabby
having a grey or brown streak or a pattern or a patchy coloring; used especially of the patterned fur of cats; brown-speckled, brownish-speckled
having brown speckles; brown-striped, brownish-striped
having brown stripes; burled
(of wood) have a pattern from the grain of a tree burl; checked, checkered, chequered
patterned with alternating squares of color; cross-banded
(of snakes) having crossing bands on the back; dappled, mottled
having spots or patches of color; dark-spotted
having dark spots; dotted, flecked, specked, speckled, stippled
having a pattern of dots; figured
(of e.g. fabric design) adorned with patterns; floral, flowered
resembling or made of or suggestive of flowers; freckled, lentiginose, lentiginous
relating to or covered with or resembling freckles; laced
edged or streaked with color; marbled, marbleised, marbleized
patterned with veins or streaks or color resembling marble; maroon-spotted
having maroon spots; moire, watered
(of silk fabric) having a wavelike pattern; patched, spotted, spotty
having spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture); pointillist, pointillistic
of or relating to pointillism; pinstriped
having very thin stripes; purple-veined
(of flowers) showing purple markings that resemble veins; purple-spotted
having purple spots; red-streaked, red-striped, reddish-striped
having red stripes; ringed
having colored rings around the body; slashed
patterned by having color applied with sweeping strokes; sprigged
decorated with designs of sprigs; streaked, streaky
marked with or as if with stripes or linear discolorations; striped, stripy
marked or decorated with stripes; tessellated
having a checkered or mottled appearance; tiger-striped
having stripes resembling those of a tiger; veined, veinlike, venose
having or showing markings that resemble veins; violet-streaked
having streaks of violet color; white-blotched
having blotches of white; white-ribbed
having white ribs; white-streaked
having white streaks; yellow-banded
having yellow bands; yellow-marked
having yellow marks; yellow-spotted
having yellow spots; yellow-striped
having yellow stripes; show more antonyms...

not mixed with extraneous elements

"plain water"

Synonyms:: sheer, unmingled, unmixed; pure
free of extraneous elements of any kind

free from any effort to soften to disguise

"the plain and unvarnished truth"

Synonyms:: unvarnished; direct
straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action

lacking embellishment or ornamentation

"a plain hair style"

Synonyms:: bare, spare, unembellished, unornamented; unadorned, undecorated
not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction

lacking in physical beauty or proportion

"a plain girl with a freckled face"

Synonyms:: homely; unattractive
lacking beauty or charm

Adverbs

unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly')

"You are plainly wrong"

"he is plain stubborn"

Synonyms:: apparently, evidently, manifestly, obviously, patently, plainly

Nouns

extensive tract of level open land

"they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"

Synonyms:: champaign, field

Examples:: show 4 examples...; hide 4 examples...; Olympia
a plain in Greece in the northwestern Peloponnese; the chief sanctuary of Zeus and the site of the original Olympian Games; Nullarbor Plain
a vast arid plain of southern Australia stretching inland from the Great Australian Bight; has sparse vegetation and no surface water and is almost uninhabited; the site of a major rocket research center; Serengeti Plain
a vast plain in Tanzania to the west of the Great Rift Valley known for its wildlife; Marston Moor
a former moor in northern England

Types:: show 10 types...; hide 10 types...; flat
a level tract of land; alluvial flat, alluvial plain
a flat resulting from repeated deposits of alluvial material by running water; salt flat, salt plain
a flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a body of salt water; flood plain, floodplain
a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding; llano
an extensive grassy and nearly treeless plain (especially in Latin America); moor, moorland
open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss; peneplain, peneplane
a more or less level land surface representing an advanced stage of erosion undisturbed by crustal movements; snowfield
a permanent wide expanse of snow; steppe
extensive plain without trees (associated with eastern Russia and Siberia); tundra
a vast treeless plain in the Arctic regions where the subsoil is permanently frozen

Type of:: dry land, earth, ground, land, solid ground, terra firma
the solid part of the earth's surface

a basic knitting stitch

Synonyms:: knit, knit stitch, plain stitch

Type of:: knitting stitch
a stitch taken in knitting

Verbs

express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness

"My mother complains all day"

Synonyms:: complain, kick, kvetch, quetch, sound off

Antonyms:: cheer
become cheerful; cheer up, chirk up; show more antonyms...

Types:: show 13 types...; hide 13 types...; hen-peck, nag, peck
bother persistently with trivial complaints; backbite, bitch
say mean things; grizzle, whine, yammer, yawp
complain whiningly; croak, gnarl, grumble, murmur, mutter
make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath; grouch, grumble, scold
show one's unhappiness or critical attitude; protest
utter words of protest; declaim, inveigh
speak against in an impassioned manner; repine
express discontent; beef, bellyache, bitch, crab, gripe, grouse, holler, squawk
complain; inveigh, rail
complain bitterly; bemoan, bewail, deplore, lament
regret strongly; report
complain about; make a charge against; bleat
talk whiningly

Vocabulary Lists for plain

seamanly
squire
rum
stockade
clove hitch

ability
abrasion
absorb
absorbency
absorbent

suppliant
adjure
woe
slay
suborn

sand dollar
petty bourgeoisie
petit bourgeois
peckerwood
Yoruba

abbreviate
catharsis
unconstrained
devastate
problematic

ablation
abnormal
abrasion
abrupt
absolute

piglet
wizard
Eureka
sawhorse
gargoyle

crapper
convolute
self-reproof
cowhand
patness

Israel
Micah
philistine
Samson
lord