plaintive
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of plaintive
First recorded in 1350–1400; plaint + -ive; replacing Middle English plaintif, from Middle French
Explanation
Plaintive is an adjective for describing someone or something with a pleading, sorrowful, desperate tone. If you have ever heard the plaintive howl of a wolf, then you know what we are getting at here. A plaint, as in complaint, is an expression of sorrow or grief. This word has also been bent a little at the ends to become plaintiff or complainant — the sufferer — in a lawsuit. So, whether you are hearing a plaintive tone in a courtroom, at a funeral, or in the wild (as in an animal's plaintive howl), you can be assured that someone or something desires something desperately.
Vocabulary lists containing plaintive
Grade 11, List 1
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Things Fall Apart
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Night
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Plaintive country songs leak from Faye’s transistor radio as she studies bird species by day and the constellations by night — scenes that tell us this is not someone who is simply existing.
From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2022
Plaintive female vocals adorn the soundtrack, and Valentina Caniglia’s clean, precise images pull light into dark corners.
From New York Times • Mar. 26, 2020
Plaintive notes about sorry conditions and the aftermath of battle still ring with horror.
From Washington Post • Nov. 5, 2016
Half-heard melodies in a darkened room, they explore the sounds a single instrument can make, from the screeching slides of No 5, Chromatically Saucy, to the plangent beauty of No 19, Plaintive Tune.
From The Guardian • Sep. 29, 2012
Plaintive sounds, restrained, enthralling, Seeking through the twilight falling Something lost beyond recalling, in the darkness of the night.
From Last Poems by Hope, Laurence
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
