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plain

plain

98 1.0
A large flat area of land with few trees
  • noun
  • /pleɪn/
translation icon : llanura
  • From there we could see the mountains, and we fled over the plains to the foothills.
  • a coastal plain
  • an alluvial plain
  • mountains and plains

It's like we're wild animals, you know, migrating across the plains and that's huge.

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Examples

  • The main herd of animals can be found in the grassy plain below you," said the voice.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Haplo turned, gazed out over a large flat plain behind the small seaside town.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Across the valley to the east, a great dry plain extended as far as I could see.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • In one way, the western plains were more beautiful than anything she had ever seen before.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • And there were plains of tall, green grass that you could lie down in, that you could go to sleep in!

  • Helm will expect us to make camp on the northern plains.

  • When I was a boy, my village was attacked by raiders from the northern plains.

  • In the middle of the rainy season, these plains are mostly underwater.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The Comanches moved farther onto the plains and essentially abandoned their trade fairs at Taos.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The vast plains stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted only with a few scattered trees.

Synonyms

flat
vsplain
21 1.3

A large area of level land with few or no trees

is the everyday word for that kind of land
savanna
vsplain
12 4.2

A large flat area of grass with a few trees in warm places

is the more general term for flat open land beyond tropical grass areas
steppe
vsplain
8 7.5

A large flat area of grass with few or no trees

covers similar flat open land beyond those specific regions
savannah
vsplain
8 3.4

A large flat grassland with few trees in warm countries

is broader, used for flat open land not only tropical areas
champaign
vsplain
  • Archaic
5 9.9

A large flat open area of land with few trees

is the general term for that type of landscape
flatland
vsplain
4 3.4

A large area of land that has few or no hills

emphasizes open land with few trees rather than hill absence

Idioms

Easily seen because it is not hidden

3 5.2

To be easy to see but not noticed by others

2 4.8

Easy to see but not noticed because it looks ordinary

1 2.8

Easy to do and without problems after it starts

Compounds

5 3.7

Flat land next to a river that often floods when the river rises

Ordinary clothes that let people in uniform blend in

A flat low area of land next to the sea

alluvial plain
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A flat area of land near a river with rich soil left by floods

A very large dry plain in southern Australia with few trees and little water

1 1.0

Flour without baking powder used for baking and cooking

1 3.9

A large flat area of land covered with salt after salt water dries

A police officer who wears ordinary clothes while working to avoid attention

Honest and open way of acting without hiding anything

5.3

A basic knitting move where you push the needle through the front of a loop

plain wanderer
  • Australian
9.9

A small Australian bird that lives in open grasslands

plain weave
  • Specialized
5.3

A simple cloth pattern where threads go over then under each other

plain-woven
  • Specialized
4.9

Cloth made by crossing threads over and under in a simple pattern

A large flat grassland in northern Tanzania with many wild animals

How Flat

prairie
  • US
60 3.2
plain
98 1.0
plateau
99 3.9
hill
1.0
mountain
1.0

Surface Forms

plain singular
plains plural

Etymology

The noun plain comes straight from Latin planus meaning 'flat' or 'level', so a plain is open land that is smooth and flat, like a wide, level floor of earth.