Englishfor English speakers

ADJECTIVE plain COMPARATIVE plainer SUPERLATIVE plainest

plain English

Meaning plain meaning

What does plain mean?

Definitions in simple English

plain Adjective

— If something is plain, it is clear and easy to see or understand. The plain and simple truth was that it was John's fault. — If something is plain, it is simple and undecorated. This dress is too plain. There is nothing interesting about it at all. — If someone or something is plain, they are not beautiful or pretty.

plain Noun

— A place with flat ground, often covered in grass. Many animals live on the plains of Africa.

plain

— adjective (= apparent, evident, manifest, patent) clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment 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 — adjective not elaborate or elaborated; simple plain food stuck to the plain facts a plain blue suit a plain rectangular brick building — adjective lacking patterns especially in color — adjective (= unembellished, unornamented) lacking embellishment or ornamentation a plain hair style unembellished white walls functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete — adjective (= unvarnished) free from any effort to soften to disguise the plain and unvarnished truth the unvarnished candor of old people and children — adjective (= sheer, unmixed) not mixed with extraneous elements plain water sheer wine not an unmixed blessing — noun (= field) extensive tract of level open land they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain he longed for the fields of his youth — adjective (= homely) lacking in physical beauty or proportion a homely child several of the buildings were downright homely a plain girl with a freckled face — verb (= complain, kick) express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness My mother complains all day She has a lot to kick about — noun (= knit, knit stitch) a basic knitting stitch — adverb (= obviously, evidently, manifestly, patently, apparently, plainly) unmistakably ('plain' is often used informally for 'plainly') 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 plain synonyms

What other words have the same or similar meaning as plain?

plain English » English

simple clear distinct flat ordinary field evident obvious homely manifest level apparent even ugly prairie unadorned smooth plane level land common bare pure level ground explicit easy unattractive straightforward sheer light frank valley unvarnished unpretentious steppe lowly humble complain champaign plateau pampas open field mere meadow lucid lowland flatland flat land downright conspicuous veld

Topics plain topics

What do people use plain to talk about?

Universe, creation World Land

Plain, plateau

What words refer to land that is flat?

plain plateau prairie steppe savanna tundra heath mesa field meadow pasture flatland tableland bottomland lowland level ground lowlands

Person Sense, perceive See Appearance

Beautiful

What words describe something or someone that is neither beautiful nor ugly?

plain average ordinary

Person Sense, perceive See Appearance

Ugly

What words describe someone who is not good looking?

not good-looking plain homely not much to look at unattractive

Physical actions Arrange

Simple, complicated

What words describe something that is simple?

simple basic crude elemental elementary neat plain primitive rudimentary single uniform unsophisticated low-tech

States Quality Decorated

Simple, plain

What words describe something that is simple and does not have a lot of decorations?

simple plain bare

Universe, creation Water Bodies of water

Ocean, lake

What are the parts of bodies of water?

surface bottom abyssal depths abyssal plain thermal layer seamount continental shelf shallows the depths the deep open sea

Examples plain examples

How do I use plain in a sentence?

Simple sentences

Stracciatella ice-cream is nothing but a plain ice-cream with chocolate chips.

Could you say that in plain English?

Written in plain English, the book can be read even by you.

Will you explain it in plain English?

The mountain rises above the plain.

Written in plain style, as it is, his paper is easy to read.

Written as it is in plain English, the book is suitable for beginners.

I make it a rule not to eat too much, for it is plain that overeating is bad for the health.

He gives plain, simple explanations.

She wore a plain blue dress.

Plain white paper will do.

Explain it in plain language.

Explain it in plain terms, please.

Written as it is in plain English, the book is useful for beginners.

Former pop stars are just plain old women by the time they're 40.

Ms. Yamada translated the fascinating fairy tale into plain Japanese.

He made it plain that he wanted to marry her.

Written in plain English, this book is easy to read.

Explain it in plain words.

Movie subtitles

Then will you do this with plain little Euphy?

Let's get a plain chest film, please, and then we're going to transfer her to the Burns Unit.

I just want something plain, simple and straight.

I also tell them to have something nice and plain, not gorge themselves on sugary biscuits.

But don't you worry your plain little face, Allison, because we will find gay kids to invite.

That's plain, ain't it?

I tell you, the doctors say it's a plain case of heart failure.

That's a plain, straightforward job.

Everybody come out in plain sight.

That's pretty plain.

Notify Scotland Yard to have a plain-clothes man posted on every corner.

Look. Are they plain-clothes men over there?

All right, then I'm just a plain, common murderer. who stabbed an innocent, defenseless woman in the back not four days ago.

Pilfering pennies from other children's lockers at school. then a little pocket picking, then a spot of car pinching. then smash and grab and so on to plain burglary.

Plus, isn't it kinda fun to hide in plain sight?

Most heartily we'll greet him, with plain and fancy cheering, until he's hard of hearing. The Captain has arrived.

See how plain you can see the stars?

If you're not, if you break the rules, then it will be just plain hell on earth.

To you I am just plain Nikolaus.

All right, then I'm just a plain, common murderer. who stabbed an innocent, defenseless woman in the back not four days ago. How do you come out over that?

This is all so plain to me.

Oh my dear, it's as plain as a pike's staff.

Now here's a perfectly plain linen handkerchief.

No, no. I see him so plain.

No.. pa is Scotch Ma is Canadian and I'm plain American.

As for THE OTHER GUY he's just plain Dede, nothing more.

It's a plain case of suicide.

Wouldn't plain baking soda be all right?

Plain as a pigstaff.

For the walls I would recommend precast concrete blocks- plain and molded on alternate courses.

It's on the door! As plain as the nose on my face!

I don't want a plain woman's mask.

Just a plain old graveyard ghost.

I knew a plain Joe Smith once.

You see, Pinocchio, a lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.

Regardless of what I think of you I believe that anybody who works with you and doesn't get a great deal out of it, is just plain dumb.

News and current affairs

And, while conspiracy theories are often patently irrational, the questions they address are often healthy, even if the answers are frequently unsourced or just plain wrong.

The LDP's need for three different prime ministers in the space of little more than a year made plain that the party's power nucleus had melted down.

By any standard of justice, it is also just plain wrong.

The Council has now made that plain.

But Khamenei had no interest in reform, as he made plain in dismantling the reform movement.

Excluding them from the sphere of beings to whom we owe moral consideration can then seem arbitrary, or just plain wrong.

But as health expenses start taking up a third of national income, healthcare socialism starts becoming just plain Marxism: to each according to his needs.

In plain English: the forecasters underestimated the extent of spare capacity and hence the scope for fiscal expansion to raise output.

We tend to think of diplomacy as something carried out in secret; sometimes, however, it is better to hide in plain sight.

In other words, what Working Group II reported was plain wrong.

As a United Nations expert body has declared, this is racial segregation, plain and simple.

The object was plain: to gain a Russian, and consequently, a Chinese abstention.

No more Brussels interference, no more arbitrary rules, no more political judgments-- just plain common sense.

Ironically, Iran's suspension of the easy steps creates the impression that its weapon program has been stopped, while the most important activity continues in plain sight.

Immediately after World War II, the memory of war, together with the enduring threat posed by the Soviet Union, made plain the importance of building and maintaining a liberal world order.

The Syrian crisis has made that plain.

But the most damaging shocks often hide in plain sight - and then hit precisely when and where almost everyone thought stability would prevail.

It requires a large reserve of imagination, optimism, or plain stupidity to believe that one's fellow human beings will ever live beyond history and ideology.

But here, again, the government is hiding in plain sight.

Moreover, the Christian conservative movement has become rudderless and fragmented, with many of its leaders dead, compromised by sex scandals, or increasingly perceived as plain batty.

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