Basic vs Plain - What's the difference?

basic | plain | Related terms |

Basic is a related term of plain.

As adjectives the difference between basic and plain

is that basic is basic while plain is .

As an adverb plain is

(colloquial) simply.

As a noun plain is

(rare|poetic) a lamentation or plain can be an expanse of land with relatively low relief.

As a verb plain is

to lament, bewail or plain can be (obsolete|transitive) to plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.

basic

English

Adjective

(en adjective)

Necessary, essential for life or some process.

Flour is a basic ingredient of bread.

Elementary, simple, fundamental, merely functional.

The Hotel Sparta’s accommodation is purely basic .

(chemistry) Of or pertaining to a base; having a pH greater than 7.

(slang) Vapid, boring, or uncool.

* 2011 , (Kreayshawn), "(Gucci Gucci)", (w, Somethin' 'Bout Kreay) :

Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada / Them basic bitches wear that shit, so I don't even bother

* 2013 , Sam Stryker, " Why Does Everyone Hate Anne Hathaway?", The Observer (University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College), Volume 46, Issue 101, 1 March 2013, page 11:

I'm not saying people are jealous of Hathaway because she is so perfect. Yes, she does have it all — husband, healthy career, good looks. But she doesn't do anything in an "awesome" way. She's basic .

* 2014 , Trevor Thrall, " Firing Line: Rowling says ‘JK,’ Ron and Hermione not meant to be", The Daily Campus (Southern Methodist University), Volume 99, Issue 54, 3 February 2014, page 4:

And what can be said about Ginny? She’s basic . My guess is that she spends her time drinking pumpkin spice lattes and watching “Pretty Little Liars.” The Chosen One is way out of her quidditch league.

Synonyms

* See also * (chemistry) alkaline

Antonyms

* (chemistry) acidic

Derived terms

* basically * BASIC

Noun

(en noun)

A necessary commodity, a staple requirement.

Rice is a basic for many Asian villagers.

An elementary building block, e.g. a fundamental piece of knowledge.

Arithmetic is a basic for the study of mathematics.

(military) Basic training.

Anagrams

* ----

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

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 ----