Describe vs Plain - What's the difference?
describe | plain |
(label) To represent in words.
* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, "
*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=
(label) To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
* 1826 , (James Fenimore Cooper), (The Last of the Mohicans)
To give rise to a geometrical structure.
To reveal a new species by scientifically explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other species.
(label) To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
* Bible, (w) xviii. 9
* Bible, (w) xl. 4
Simple.
# Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
#* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= # Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
# Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
#* (Henry Hammond) (1605-1660)
#* (Abraham Lincoln) (1809-1865)
# (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
# Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
Open.
# Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
# Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
#* Felton
Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
(colloquial) Simply
(rare, poetic) A lamentation.
* 1815 , Sir ,
To lament, bewail.
* Bishop Joseph Hall
* ,
An expanse of land with relatively low relief.
* Milton
* 1961 , J. A. Philip. Mimesis in the ''Sophistês'' of Plato . In: Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association 92. p. 467.
A battlefield.
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) A .
(obsolete) To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
* Wither
(obsolete) To make plain or manifest; to explain.
* Shakespeare
As verbs the difference between describe and plain
is that describe is (label) to represent in words while plain is to lament, bewail or plain can be (obsolete|transitive) to plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.As an adjective 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.describe
English
Verb
(describ)Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
- Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
- Uncas described an arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on, Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave the war-whoop of the Mohicans.
- Passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book.
Synonyms
* (to represent in words) portray, betell, depict, report * (to represent in writing) bewriteExternal links
* * ----plain
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) pleyn, playn, (etyl) plain, plein, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain .
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.}}
- plain yet pious Christians
- the plain people
- 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.
- an honest mind, and plain
- Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
Synonyms
* no-frills * normal * ordinary * simple * unadorned * unseasoned * See alsoAntonyms
* bells and whistles * decorative * exotic * fancy * ornateDerived 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 * plainnessAdverb
(-)- 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
* pleinNoun
(en noun)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 plain a loss
- 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)- Him the Ammonite / Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain .
- 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”
- (Arbuthnot)
- Lead forth my soldiers to the plain .
Synonyms
* flatlands * high plain * plateau * prairie * steppeAntonyms
* cliff * gorge * mountain * valeDerived 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 plainSee also
* grassland * meadowVerb
(en verb)- We would rake Europe rather, plain the East.
- What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech.