Plain vs Bad - What's the difference?
plain | bad |
* 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
Not good; unfavorable; negative.
* , chapter=10
, title= Not suitable or fitting.
Seemingly non-appropriate, in manners, etc.
* , chapter=7
, title= Unhealthy.
Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
Evil; wicked.
Faulty; not functional.
(of food) , rotten, overripe.
(of breath) , foul.
(informal) Bold and daring.
(of a, need or want) Severe, urgent.
Badly.
(slang) error, mistake
* '>citation
*
*
(countable, uncountable, economics) An item (or kind of item) of merchandise with negative value; an unwanted good.
* {{quote-book, title=International Economics: Global Markets and Competition
, first=Henry
, last=Thompson
, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=RQeYBbSlXLIC&lpg=PA97&dq=%22economic%20bad%22&pg=PA97v=onepage&q=%22economic%20bad%22&f=false
, page=97
, year=2011
, edition=3rd
, publisher=World Scientific
, passage=Imports are an economic good but exports an economic bad . Exports must be produced but are enjoyed by foreign consumers.
}}
* {{quote-book, title=Economics
, author=William J. Boyes, Michael Melvin
, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=LgaZaie5V1YC&lpg=PA4&dq=bads&pg=PA4v=onepage&q=bads&f=false
, page=4
, year=2011
, edition=9th
, publisher=Cengage Learning
, passage=An economic bad' is anything that you would pay to get rid of. It is not so hard to think of examples of ' bads : pollution, garbage, and disease fit the description.
}}
(rfm-sense) (slang) Fantastic.
(archaic) .
(British, dialect, transitive) To shell (a walnut).
* 1876 , The Gloucester Journal'', Oct. 7, 1876, reported in William John Thomas, Doran (John), Henry Frederick Turle, Joseph Knight, Vernon Horace Rendall, Florence Hayllar, ''Notes and Queries ,
As verbs the difference between plain and bad
is that plain is to lament, bewail or plain can be (obsolete|transitive) to plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface while bad is to simulate.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.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.
Statistics
*Anagrams
* English degree adverbs ----bad
English
(wikipedia bad)Etymology 1
From (etyl) bad, ).Adjective
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=“[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]”}}
- Lard is bad'''' for you. Smoking is '''bad''' for you, too. Grapes are '''bad for dogs but not for humans.
Usage notes
The comparative badder and superlative baddest are nonstandard.Synonyms
* (not good) unfavorable, negative * * (not suitable or fitting) * * wicked, evil, vile, vicious * (not functional) faulty * (of food) rotten * (of breath) malodorous, foul * badass * (of a need or want) severe, urgent, dire (to be assigned) * false * spurious * disgusting * wrong * corrupt * ill * base * abandoned * vicious * abominable * detestable * deficient * inferior * lousy * off * poor * punk * substandard * unacceptable * ungodly * unsatisfactory * wanting * wretched * See alsoAntonyms
* good * right * worthy * competent * benevolent * true * honest * just * sincere * beneficial * advantageous * profitable * virtuous * reputable * upright * propitious * choice * excellent * exceptional * first-class * first-rate * premium * prime * superior * adequate * sufficientSee also
* astray * base * bum * contemptible * defective * despicable * dirty * execrable * faulty * flawed * inadequate * insufficient * lacking * lesser * low-grade * mediocre * par * reprehensible * scurrilous * second-rate * under * unspeakable * useless * valueless * villainous * worthlessDerived terms
* bad actor * bad apple * bad beat * bad blood * bad boy * bad breath * bad check * bad debt * baddie * bad egg * bad ending * bad eye * bad fairy * bad faith * bad for you * bad guy * bad hair day * bad hat * bad iron * bad joke * bad language * bad light * bad lot * bad luck * bad man * bad-mannered * bad manners * bad medicine * bad money * bad-mouth * badness * bad news * bad off * bad penny * bad-tempered * Bad Thing * bad to the bone * go bad * not bad * too badAdverb
- I didn't do too bad in the last exam.
Noun
(-)- Sorry, my bad !
Etymology 2
Probably identical to bad , etymology 1, above, especially in the sense "bold, daring".Adjective
(badder)- You is (SIC) bad , man!
- Also Bek is "bad " at Madden.
Etymology 3
From (etyl) .Verb
(head)Etymology 4
Verb
(badd)page 346
- A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect c»me out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ' badding' ' walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial : to ' '''bad''' ' walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called » 'bannut,' and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ' Come an' ' bad the bannuts.'