plaint
1
9.9
- noun
- /pleɪnt/
- Archaic
:
lamento
- In the quiet of the evening, her plaint carried a deep sense of loss.
Examples
-
Poor Devil; hearing his plaint, one is half-tempted to sympathize.
Academic text (1992) -
When she burned, she gave out a satisfying, piteous plaint, for we had filled her body with rats and mice.
Fiction book (1996) -
Carlos's plaint employs the vocabulary of a betrayed lover; he describes his friendship as "aborrecida" and "mal pagada," and his friend as "ingrato" (I. ii.).
Academic text (2002) -
The mournful plaint of the grieving mother echoed through the empty hall.
-
He expressed his plaint in a heartfelt letter to his friend.
Synonyms
233
1.9
A low unhappy sound showing pain, discomfort or dislike
54
3.2
A long loud cry that shows pain or deep sadness
17
6.1
A sad song, poem, or cry that shows grief
7
7.7
A strong feeling of sadness that people show by crying
Antonyms
How Sad
Surface Forms
Etymology
Plaint comes from Old French plainte and the Latin plangere, which meant 'to strike' and then 'to lament', a picture like beating the chest in sorrow. The same root is in plaintive, so a plaint is a sad cry or 'lament'.