Definition of 'plain'

Noun

1. extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of his youth"
      Synonyms: field champaign
2. a basic knitting stitch
      Synonyms: knit knit stitch plain stitch

Verb

1. express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness; "My mother complains all day"; "She has a lot to kick about"
      Synonyms: complain kick sound off quetch kvetch
      Antonyms: cheer cheer up chirk up

Adjective

1. 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"
      Synonyms: apparent evident manifest patent unmistakable
2. not elaborate or elaborated; simple; "plain food"; "stuck to the plain facts"; "a plain blue suit"; "a plain rectangular brick building"
      Antonyms: fancy
3. lacking patterns especially in color
      Synonyms: unpatterned
      Antonyms: patterned
4. not mixed with extraneous elements; "plain water"; "sheer wine"; "not an unmixed blessing"
      Synonyms: sheer unmingled unmixed
5. free from any effort to soften to disguise; "the plain and unvarnished truth"; "the unvarnished candor of old people and children"
      Synonyms: unvarnished
6. lacking embellishment or ornamentation; "a plain hair style"; "unembellished white walls"; "functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete"
      Synonyms: bare spare unembellished unornamented
7. lacking in physical beauty or proportion; "a homely child"; "several of the buildings were downright homely"; "a plain girl with a freckled face"
      Synonyms: homely

Adverb

1. 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: obviously evidently manifestly patently apparently plainly

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