plain
Other forms: plains; plainer; plainest; plaining; plained
Plain things are simple, unadorned, and even a little boring. Being a plain talker means you don't use pretentious, fancy words. But having a plain face means you're not much to look at.
Plain comes from the Latin word planum, meaning "level ground." That's one meaning of the word, as in a flat prairie or low lying coastal flood plain. If something is in plain view, it's out in the open with no obstructions. But usually we use plain as an adjective to describe unembellished, bare, or unimpressive things. A white room with just an old bed and a chair is pretty plain.
Definitions of plain
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not elaborate or elaborated; simple“plain food”“stuck to the plain facts”“a plain blue suit”“a plain rectangular brick building”
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Synonyms:
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unadorned, undecorated
not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction
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austere, severe, stark, stern
severely simple
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bare, mere, simple
apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
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chaste
pure and simple in design or style
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dry
(of food) eaten without a spread or sauce or other garnish
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dry
having no adornment or coloration
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featureless
lacking distinguishing characteristics or features
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homely
plain and unpretentious
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inelaborate, unelaborate
not elaborate; lacking rich or complex detail
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literal
avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis)
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simple
unornamented
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tailored, trim
severely simple in line or design
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vanilla
plain and without any extras or adornments
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unpretentious
lacking pretension or affectation
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unrhetorical
not rhetorical
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simple
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved
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Antonyms:
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fancy
not plain; decorative or ornamented
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adorned, decorated
provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction
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aureate, flamboyant, florid
elaborately or excessively ornamented
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baroque, churrigueresco, churrigueresque
having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation
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busy, fussy
overcrowded or cluttered with detail
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dressy
in fancy clothing
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crackle
having the surface decorated with a network of fine cracks, as in crackleware
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damascene
(of metals) decorated or inlaid with a wavy pattern of different (especially precious) metals
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damask
having a woven pattern
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elaborate, luxuriant, ornate
marked by complexity and richness of detail
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battlemented, castellated, castled, embattled
having or resembling repeated square indentations like those in a battlement
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fanciful
having a curiously intricate quality
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fantastic
extravagantly fanciful in design, construction, appearance
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lacelike, lacy
made of or resembling lace
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puff, puffed
gathered for protruding fullness
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rococo
having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation
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vermicular, vermiculate, vermiculated
decorated with wormlike tracery or markings
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rhetorical
given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought
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unadorned, undecorated
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lacking patterns especially in color
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synonyms:
unpatterned
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solid-colored, solid-coloured
having the same color all over
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Antonyms:
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patterned
having patterns (especially colorful patterns)
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banded
marked with bands or strips of contrasting color or texture
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black-and-tan
having a pattern of black and tan
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black-barred
having a pattern consisting of black bars
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black-marked
having black marks
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blotched, blotchy, splotched
marked with irregularly shaped spots or blots
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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
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brown-speckled, brownish-speckled
having brown speckles
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brown-striped, brownish-striped
having brown stripes
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burled
(of wood) have a pattern from the grain of a tree burl
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checked, checkered, chequered
patterned with alternating squares of color
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cross-banded
(of snakes) having crossing bands on the back
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dappled, mottled
having spots or patches of color
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dark-spotted
having dark spots
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dotted, flecked, specked, speckled, stippled
having a pattern of dots
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figured
(of e.g. fabric design) adorned with patterns
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floral, flowered
resembling or made of or suggestive of flowers
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freckled, lentiginose, lentiginous
relating to or covered with or resembling freckles
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laced
edged or streaked with color
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marbled, marbleised, marbleized
patterned with veins or streaks or color resembling marble
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maroon-spotted
having maroon spots
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moire, watered
(of silk fabric) having a wavelike pattern
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patched, spotted, spotty
having spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture)
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pointillist, pointillistic
of or relating to pointillism
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pinstriped
having very thin stripes
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purple-veined
(of flowers) showing purple markings that resemble veins
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purple-spotted
having purple spots
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red-streaked, red-striped, reddish-striped
having red stripes
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ringed
having colored rings around the body
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slashed
patterned by having color applied with sweeping strokes
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sprigged
decorated with designs of sprigs
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streaked, streaky
marked with or as if with stripes or linear discolorations
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striped, stripy
marked or decorated with stripes
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tessellated
having a checkered or mottled appearance
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tiger-striped
having stripes resembling those of a tiger
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veined, veinlike, venose
having or showing markings that resemble veins
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violet-streaked
having streaks of violet color
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white-blotched
having blotches of white
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white-ribbed
having white ribs
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white-streaked
having white streaks
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yellow-banded
having yellow bands
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yellow-marked
having yellow marks
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yellow-spotted
having yellow spots
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yellow-striped
having yellow stripes
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solid-colored, solid-coloured
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lacking embellishment or ornamentation“a plain hair style”
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synonyms:
bare, spare, unembellished, unornamented
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unadorned, undecorated
not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction
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unadorned, undecorated
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not mixed with extraneous elements
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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”
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synonyms:
apparent, evident, manifest, patent, resounding, unmistakable
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obvious
easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind
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obvious
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free from any effort to soften to disguise“the plain and unvarnished truth”
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synonyms:
unvarnished
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direct
straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action
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direct
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lacking in physical beauty or proportion
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unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly')“he is plain stubborn”
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synonyms:
apparently, evidently, manifestly, obviously, patently, plainly
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extensive tract of level open land“they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain”
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examples:
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Olympia
a plain in Greece in the northwestern Peloponnese; the chief sanctuary of Zeus and the site of the original Olympian Games
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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
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Serengeti Plain
a vast plain in Tanzania to the west of the Great Rift Valley known for its wildlife
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types:
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flat
a level tract of land
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flood plain, floodplain
a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding
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llano
an extensive grassy and nearly treeless plain (especially in Latin America)
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moor, moorland
open land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss
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peneplain, peneplane
a more or less level land surface representing an advanced stage of erosion undisturbed by crustal movements
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snowfield
a permanent wide expanse of snow
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steppe
extensive plain without trees (associated with eastern Russia and Siberia)
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tundra
a vast treeless plain in the Arctic regions where the subsoil is permanently frozen
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alluvial flat, alluvial plain
a flat resulting from repeated deposits of alluvial material by running water
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salt flat, salt plain
a flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a body of salt water
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type of:
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dry land, earth, ground, land, solid ground, terra firma
the solid part of the earth's surface
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Olympia
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a basic knitting stitch
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synonyms:
knit, knit stitch, plain stitch
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type of:
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knitting stitch
a stitch taken in knitting
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knitting stitch
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express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
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types:
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hen-peck, nag, peck
bother persistently with trivial complaints
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backbite, bitch
say mean things
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grizzle, whine, yammer, yawp
complain whiningly
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croak, gnarl, grumble, murmur, mutter
make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath
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grouch, grumble, scold
show one's unhappiness or critical attitude
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protest
utter words of protest
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repine
express discontent
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beef, bellyache, bitch, crab, gripe, grouse, holler, squawk
complain
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inveigh, rail
complain bitterly
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bemoan, bewail, deplore, lament
regret strongly
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report
complain about; make a charge against
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bleat
talk whiningly
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declaim, inveigh
speak against in an impassioned manner
Pronunciation
US
/pleɪn/
UK
/pleɪn/
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