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.
Mr. Cole, who seems proud that his Banana Ball has a family tree, echoes a common plaint among non-baseball fans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
“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
In “Send In the Clowns,” for example, he couched the famous plaint about missed romantic chances largely in the language of the theater, because the character singing it is an aging actress:
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2021
“Goodman Whittlesley, will you repeat your com. plaint for this assembly?”
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
