Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PLAINTIVE
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pronounce
PLAINTIVE:
Say it "PLANE tiv."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Sometimes my cat Chloe will let out this long, loud, sorrowful wail, sort of like "MRRRROWowowowowllll," as if to say, "It is profoundly tragic that no one is petting me at this very moment. Woe is me."
It's such a plaintive sound.
That word plaintive is cousins with complain--and probably plague, too--because they all (probably) trace back to a Latin word for "strike." (We'll see why in a second.)
And plaintive is synonyms with words like sorrowful, mournful, melancholy, and dis_____late ("so sad that nothing will provide comfort"). Could you recall that last one?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Today, we hardly ever use the verbs "to plain" and "to plaint," but they mean "to complain, to grumble." And a "plaint" is a complaint or an expression of sadness.
And something plaintive is full of sadness, or full of sorrow. In other words, plaintive things sound very sad and sorrowful.
Those words all come from Old French. We can trace them back to the Latin planctus, meaning "wailing, lamentation," which comes from plangere, "to strike," as in "to strike your own chest as you cry out in grief."
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "her plaintive voice;" "The song was plaintive."
Other common forms:
Plaintively, plaintiveness.
how to use it:
Pick the formal, semi-common word "plaintive" when you need to sound sophisticated as you describe how sad something sounds (or seems).
It most often describes things we hear: we talk about plaintive cries, sighs, calls, pleas, prayers, wishes, appeals, notes, songs, tunes, musical instruments, voices, comments, etc.
But "plaintive" doesn't have to describe sounds. We can also talk about plaintive signs, poems, letters, drawings, and so on.
And to get figurative, we might talk about a plaintive longing, a plaintive nostalgia, or a plaintive hope.
examples:
"We get a handful of these malapropisms [in the movie], the most touching of which is Thor's plaintive cry: 'Two weeks into sixth grade, and I'm already a social piranha.'"
— Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 16 August 2019
"I'll never forget watching my parents slow-dance in Plaza Gardens to the plaintive trumpet of Harry James playing with his orchestra."
— Richard Stayton, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2019
has this page helped you understand "plaintive"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "plaintive" without saying "melancholy" or "grief-stricken."
try it out:
Talk about a song you love that sounds plaintive.
Is it the melody, the words, or the tempo that makes the song sound so plaintive? Or some combination of those, or something else entirely? Is it possible that the words are plaintive but the melody isn't, or vice versa?
If you're having trouble coming up with a plaintive song, try "Hotel California," "Sixty Years On," or "Tears in Heaven."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is Perfectly Cromulent Words!
In each issue this month, match a scene from The Simpsons to the term that it calls to mind.
To see the answer, scroll to the bottom of the issue.
Try this one today:
Does the scene below suggest the word bilk, broach, or bandy?
review this word:
A. FAZED.
B. FANCY.
C. CHIRPY.
2. I put a sampler of _____ in front of my daughter, which she greets with a plaintive _____.
A. vegetables .. sigh
B. chocolates .. cheer
C. science experiments .. eyebrow
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Sometimes my cat Chloe will let out this long, loud, sorrowful wail, sort of like "MRRRROWowowowowllll," as if to say, "It is profoundly tragic that no one is petting me at this very moment. Woe is me."
Today, we hardly ever use the verbs "to plain" and "to plaint," but they mean "to complain, to grumble." And a "plaint" is a complaint or an expression of sadness.
Part of speech:
Pick the formal, semi-common word "plaintive" when you need to sound sophisticated as you describe how sad something sounds (or seems).
"We get a handful of these malapropisms [in the movie], the most touching of which is Thor's plaintive cry: 'Two weeks into sixth grade, and I'm already a social piranha.'"
Explain the meaning of "plaintive" without saying "melancholy" or "grief-stricken."
Talk about a song you love that sounds plaintive.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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