plaint
Americannoun
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a complaint.
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Law. a statement of grievance made to a court for the purpose of asking redress.
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a lament; lamentation.
noun
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archaic a complaint or lamentation
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law a statement in writing of grounds of complaint made to a court of law and asking for redress of the grievance
Etymology
Origin of plaint
1175–1225; Middle English < Middle French < Latin planctus a striking or beating (the breast) in grief, equivalent to plang ( ere ) to beat, strike, mourn for + -tus, suffix of v. action
Vocabulary lists containing plaint
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.
“What seemed to be political fanaticism,” he writes there, “was only an excuse, a parable, a manifesto of fidelity, a coded plaint of love.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 13, 2023
Instead of breaking something open, and for all its self-conscious daring, “Beau Is Afraid” stays in a relatively safe lane as one more Portnoy-esque plaint about Mom’s inhumanity to man.
From Washington Post • Apr. 19, 2023
These points are not the most cynical aspect of McConnell’s plaint, however.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2020
If this is Greenberg’s plaint as well — the scent of despair does waft off the stage — I hope he has now worked through it.
From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2020
‘Will the sun forget to streak?’ is no hysterical outburst of operatic tragedy, nor is it a plaint of sentimental, self-indulgent misery.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
