Plain meaning

What does “plain” mean? Definitions, examples, synonyms and opposites.

“plain” is a noun, verb, adjective and adverb with 11 meanings. Its most common meaning is: extensive tract of level open land.

plain

extensive tract of level open land
“they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain”
“he longed for the fields of his youth”
Synonymsfield champaign
a basic knitting stitch made by putting the needle through the front of the stitch from the lefthand side
Synonymsknit knit stitch plain stitch

express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
“My mother complains all day”
“She has a lot to kick about”
Synonymscomplain kick sound off quetch kvetch

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”
Synonymsapparent evident manifest palpable patent unmistakable
not elaborate or elaborated; simple
“plain food”
“stuck to the plain facts”
Oppositesfancy
lacking patterns especially in color
Synonymsunpatterned
Oppositespatterned
not mixed with extraneous elements
“plain water”
“sheer wine”
Synonymssheer unmingled unmixed
free from any effort to soften to disguise
“the plain and unvarnished truth”
“the unvarnished candor of old people and children”
Synonymsunvarnished
lacking embellishment or ornamentation
“a plain hair style”
“unembellished white walls”
Synonymsbare spare unembellished unornamented
lacking in physical beauty or proportion
“a homely child”
“several of the buildings were downright homely”
Synonymshomely

unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly')
“the answer is obviously wrong”
“she was in bed and evidently in great pain”
Synonymsobviously evidently manifestly patently apparently plainly

Source: WordNet 3.1, Princeton University