Empty vs Plain - What's the difference?
empty | plain |
Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
* {{quote-news
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, date=October 23
, author=Phil McNulty
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(computing, programming) Containing no elements (as of a string or array), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
(obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of .
* Milton
* Shakespeare
Having nothing to carry; unburdened.
* Shakespeare
* Bible, Exodus iii. 21
Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
* Cibber
Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
* Alexander Pope
Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
(obsolete) Producing nothing; unfruitful; said of a plant or tree.
* Bible, Genesis xli. 27
Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
* Shakespeare
(ergative) To make empty; to void; to remove the contents of.
* Bible, Eccl. xi. 3
A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.
* 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
In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between empty and plain
is that empty is (obsolete) producing nothing; unfruitful; said of a plant or tree while plain is (obsolete) a.As adjectives the difference between empty and plain
is that empty is devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant while plain is .As verbs the difference between empty and plain
is that empty is (ergative) to make empty; to void; to remove the contents of 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 nouns the difference between empty and plain
is that empty is a container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty 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.empty
English
Adjective
(er)- an empty''' purse; an '''empty''' jug; an '''empty stomach
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- that fair female troop empty of all good
- I shall find you empty of that fault.
- an empty messenger
- When ye go ye shall not go empty .
- empty words, or threats
- Words are but empty thanks.
- empty pleasures
- pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise
- empty dreams
- an empty vine
- seven empty ears blasted with the east wind
- empty''' brains; an '''empty coxcomb
- that in civility thou seem'st so empty
Synonyms
* (devoid of content) unoccupied, clear, , toom, cleanAntonyms
* fullDerived terms
* empty-handed * emptiness * empty product * empty set * empty sumVerb
- to empty a well or a cistern
- The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.
- The clouds empty themselves upon the earth.
Antonyms
* fillDerived terms
* empty the tankNoun
(empties)- Put the empties out to be recycled.
Derived terms
* emptiness * run on emptyplain
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.