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Mild vs Plain - What's the difference?

mild | plain |

As adjectives the difference between mild and plain

is that mild is gentle and not easily provoked while plain is .

As nouns the difference between mild and plain

is that mild is (british) a relatively low-gravity beer, often with a dark colour; mild ale while plain is (rare|poetic) a lamentation or plain can be an expanse of land with relatively low relief.

As an adverb plain is

(colloquial) simply.

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.

mild

English

(Webster 1913)

Adjective

(er)
  • Gentle and not easily provoked.
  • (of a rule or punishment) Of only moderate severity.
  • Not keenly felt or seriously intended.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
  • (of an illness or pain) Not serious or dangerous.
  • * {{quote-book, author=Rachel Simon, year=2002
    • , passage=I learn that mental retardation is classified in four levels: mild , moderate, severe, and profound. , title= Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey}}
  • * {{quote-book, author=Janice A. Gault, year=2003
    • , passage=NPDR can be further classified as mild , moderate, severe, or very severe, which can help predict how quickly the patient may progress to proliferative (neovascular) diabetic retinopathy (PDR). , title= Ophthalmology Pearls}}
  • (of weather) Moderately warm, especially less cold than expected.
  • (of a medicine or cosmetic) Acting gently and without causing harm.
  • Not sharp, or strong in flavor.

    • Synonyms

    * soft, gentle, bland, calm, tranquil, soothing, pleasant, placid, meek, kind, tender, indulgent, clement, mollifying, lenitive, assuasive * See also

    Antonyms

    * strong * harsh, severe, irritating, violent, disagreeable

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) A relatively low-gravity beer, often with a dark colour; mild ale
  • * 1998 , Robert Rankin, The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag (page 112)
    • 'Let me get this for the lady,' I said to Fange, who was pulling her a pint of mild .
  • * 2011 , Pete Brown, Three Sheets to the Wind
    • But Stella shouldn't really be drunk in pints the same way our dads used to drink bitter or mild that was effectively half as strong.

    Derived terms

    * mild and bitter

    External links

    * * * ----

    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
    Related terms
    * plane * planar

    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.
    Related terms
    * plaint * complain

    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
    Related terms
    * esplanade * explain
    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

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    Anagrams

    * English degree adverbs ----