plain
adjective
[ pleɪn ]
• not decorated or elaborate; simple or basic in character.
• "good plain food"
Similar:
simple,
ordinary,
unadorned,
undecorated,
unembellished,
unornamented,
unpretentious,
unostentatious,
unfussy,
homely,
homespun,
basic,
modest,
unsophisticated,
penny plain,
without frills,
stark,
severe,
spartan,
austere,
chaste,
bare,
uncluttered,
restrained,
muted,
unpatterned,
patternless,
everyday,
workaday,
• having no pretensions; not remarkable or special.
• "a plain, honest man with no nonsense about him"
Similar:
straightforward,
unpretentious,
simple,
ordinary,
average,
unassuming,
unaffected,
honest-to-goodness,
ingenuous,
artless,
guileless,
sincere,
cracker-barrel,
• easy to perceive or understand; clear.
• "the advantages were plain to see"
Similar:
obvious,
clear,
crystal clear,
as clear as crystal,
evident,
apparent,
manifest,
patent,
visible,
discernible,
perceptible,
perceivable,
noticeable,
detectable,
recognizable,
observable,
unmistakable,
transparent,
palpable,
distinct,
pronounced,
marked,
striking,
conspicuous,
overt,
self-evident,
indisputable,
as plain as a pikestaff,
staring someone in the face,
writ large,
written all over someone,
as plain as day,
plain to see,
beyond (a) doubt,
beyond question,
standing/sticking out a mile,
• (of a person) not beautiful or attractive.
• "a plain, round-faced woman"
Similar:
unattractive,
unprepossessing,
as plain as a pikestaff,
ugly,
ill-favoured,
unlovely,
ordinary-looking,
homely,
not much to look at,
fugly,
no oil painting,
huckery,
• sheer; simple (used for emphasis).
• "the main problem is just plain exhaustion"
• denoting or relating to a type of knitting stitch produced by putting the needle through the front of each stitch from left to right.
plain
adverb
• used for emphasis.
• "perhaps the youth was just plain stupid"
Similar:
downright,
utterly,
absolutely,
completely,
totally,
really,
thoroughly,
positively,
profoundly,
categorically,
simply,
incontrovertibly,
unquestionably,
undeniably,
plumb,
• clearly or unequivocally.
• "I'm finished with you, I'll tell you plain"
plain
noun
• a large area of flat land with few trees.
• "the coastal plain"
Similar:
grassland,
flatland,
lowland,
pasture,
meadowland,
open country,
prairie,
savannah,
steppe,
tableland,
tundra,
pampas,
campo,
llano,
vega,
veld,
pediplain,
champaign,
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French plain, from Latin planus, from a base meaning ‘flat’.
plain
verb
• mourn or lament.
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French plaindre, from Latin plangere ‘to lament’.
