Plain Meaning
/pleɪn/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjFlat, level.
adjSimple, unaltered., Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
Sentence Examples
Your opinion is off the mark. That's plain to anyone.
It's quite plain that you haven't been paying attention.
At the door were two plain-clothes detectives from the vice squad.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She chose a ____ white dress that had no decorations or patterns.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The message was written in ____ language so that everyone could understand it without difficulty.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleyn, playn, Middle French plain, plein, and Old French plain, from Latin plānus (“flat, even, level, plain”). Doublet of llano, piano, and plane.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 40:4:
"The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight."
— 2013 September–October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
"plain yet pious Christians"
— 1654, Henry Hammond, Of Fundamentals:
"the plain people"
— 1861, Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress in Special Session, July 4th:
"In fact, by excommunication or persuasion, by impetuosity of driving or adroitness in leading, this Abbot, it is now becoming plain everywhere, is a man that generally remains master at last."
— 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XV, Practical — Devotional”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She chose a ____ white dress that had no decorations or patterns.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The message was written in ____ language so that everyone could understand it without difficulty.