Plaintive

//ˈpleɪntɪv// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Sounding sorrowful, mournful or melancholic.

    "a typically plaintive song from Radiohead"

Adjective
  1. 1
    expressing sorrow wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
sorrowfulaggrievedanguishedatrabiliaryatrabiliousbleak

Example

More examples

"The plaintive melody broke her heart."

Etymology

From Middle English pleintif, plentyff, from Old French pleintif (“aggrieved, lamenting”) (whence modern French plaintif), from plainte (“lament, complaint”); see plaint. Doublet of plaintiff.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.