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Plain vs Free - What's the difference?

plain | free | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between plain and free

is that plain is a plane while free is freely; willingly.

As adjectives the difference between plain and free

is that plain is flat, level while free is unconstrained.

As adverbs the difference between plain and free

is that plain is simply while free is without needing to pay.

As nouns the difference between plain and free

is that plain is a lamentation while free is abbreviation of free kick.

As verbs the difference between plain and free

is that plain is to lament, bewail while free is to make free; set at liberty; release; rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, or oppresses.

plain

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pleyn, playn, (etyl) plain, plein, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • * Bible, (w) xl. 4
  • The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain .
  • Simple.
  • # Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
  • # Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
  • # Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
  • #* (Henry Hammond) (1605-1660)
  • plain yet pious Christians
  • #* (Abraham Lincoln) (1809-1865)
  • the plain people
  • # (label) Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
  • # (label) Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
  • Obvious.
  • # Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
  • #* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
  • In fact, by excommunication or persuasion, by impetuosity of driving or adroitness in leading, , it is now becoming plain everywhere, is a man that generally remains master at last.
  • # Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
  • Open.
  • # Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • an honest mind, and plain
  • # Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
  • #* Felton
  • Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
  • Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
  • Synonyms
    * no-frills * normal * ordinary * simple * unadorned * unseasoned * See also
    Antonyms
    * bells and whistles * decorative * exotic * fancy * ornate
    Derived terms
    * plain and simple * plain as a pikestaff * plain as the nose on one's face * plain chocolate * plain clothes * plain-dealing * plain film * plain flour * plain-hearted * plain Jane * plain-laid * plain line * plain paper * plain sailing * plain song/plainsong * plain-spoken * plain text * plain-vanilla * plain weave * plain-winged * plainly * plainness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) Simply
  • It was just plain stupid.
    I plain forgot.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) plainer, pleiner, variant of (etyl) and (etyl) pleindre, plaindre, from (etyl) plangere, present active infinitive of .

    Alternative forms

    * plein

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare, poetic) A lamentation.
  • * 1815 , Sir , The Lady of the Isles , Canto IV, part IX
  • The warrior-threat, the infant's plain ,
    The mother's screams, were heard in vain;

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To lament, bewail.
  • to plain a loss
  • * Bishop Joseph Hall
  • Thy mother could thee for thy cradle set / Her husband's rusty iron corselet; / Whose jargling sound might rock her babe to rest, / That never plain' d of his uneasy nest.
  • * , More Poems , XXV, lines 5-9
  • Then came I crying, and to-day,
    With heavier cause to plain ,
    Depart I into death away,
    Not to be born again.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) plain, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (wikipedia plain) (en noun)
  • An expanse of land with relatively low relief.
  • * Milton
  • Him the Ammonite / Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain .
  • * 1961 , J. A. Philip. Mimesis in the ''Sophistês'' of Plato . In: Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association 92. p. 467.
  • For Plato the life of the philosopher is a life of struggle towards the goal of knowledge, towards “searching the heavens and measuring the plains , in all places seeking the nature of everything as a whole”
  • A battlefield.
  • (Arbuthnot)
  • * Shakespeare
  • Lead forth my soldiers to the plain .
  • (obsolete) A .
  • Synonyms
    * flatlands * high plain * plateau * prairie * steppe
    Antonyms
    * cliff * gorge * mountain * vale
    Derived terms
    * abyssal plain * alluvial plain * flood plain/floodplain * gibber plain * Great Plains * peneplain * Plains * plain wanderer * salt plain * the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain
    See also
    * grassland * meadow

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
  • * Wither
  • We would rake Europe rather, plain the East.
  • (obsolete) To make plain or manifest; to explain.
  • * Shakespeare
  • What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English degree adverbs ----

    free

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title=[http://www.economist.com/news/business/21583242-businesspeople-have-become-too-influential-government-cronies-and-capitols Cronies and capitols] , passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.}}
  • # Not imprisoned or enslaved.
  • # Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved; frank; communicative.
  • #* Milward
  • He was free only with a few.
  • # Generous; liberal.
  • # (label) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • My hands are guilty, but my heart is free .
  • # Without obligations.
  • # Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?
  • # Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; said of a government, institutions, etc.
  • # (label) With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.
  • # (label) Intended for release, as opposed to a checked version.
  • Obtainable without any payment.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title=[http://www.economist.com/news/http://www.economist.com/news/business/21582001-army-new-online-courses-scaring-wits-out-traditional-universities-can-they The attack of the MOOCs] , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • # Obtainable without additional payment, as a bonus given when paying for something else.
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • # (label) Unconstrained by relators.
  • # Unconstrained by quantifiers.
  • # (label) Of identifiers, not bound.
  • # That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • # Unobstructed, without blockages.
  • # Unattached or uncombined.
  • # Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.
  • # Not attached; loose.
  • #*
  • Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute
  • Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.
  • * (w) (1635?-1715)
  • princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • (label) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
  • (label) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of .
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, / Free of his farm.
  • Certain or honourable; the opposite of base .
  • (Burrill)
  • (label) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common .
  • (Burrill)

    Synonyms

    * (obtainable without payment) free of charge, gratis * (unconstrained) unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered * (unobstructed) clear, unobstructed * libre * (without) without * unbound

    Antonyms

    * (not imprisoned or enslaved) bound, enslaved, imprisoned * (unconstrained) constrained, restricted * bound * (unobstructed) blocked, obstructed * bound * proprietary software

    Derived terms

    * -free * free Abelian group, free abelian group * free algebra * free and clear * free and easy * free as a bird * freeball * freebooter * free fall * free group * freelance * freeloader * free lunch * freely * free market * free marketeer * Freemason * free module * free object * free of charge * free rein * free ride * free rider * free semigroup * free speech * free spirit * free-spoken * free-thinker * free time * free variable * free vote * freeware * freeway * freewheel * free will * unfree

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Without needing to pay.
  • I got this bike free .
  • (obsolete) Freely; willingly.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.

    Synonyms

    * for free, for nothing

    Verb

    (d)
  • To make free; set at liberty; release; rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, or oppresses.
  • Hyponyms

    * emancipate * liberate * manumit * release * unchain * unfetter

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
  • * 2006 , [http://footballlegends.org/daryn_cresswell.htm]:
  • Whether deserved or not, the free' gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.
  • free transfer
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 21 , author=Sam Lyon , title=Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham , work=BBC Sport , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14910208.stm , page= , passage=Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.}}
  • (hurling) The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
  • Usage notes

    *