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Solid vs Plain - What's the difference?

solid | plain |

As an acronym solid

is (programming|object-oriented).

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.

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.

solid

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • In the state of a solid; not fluid.
  • Large, massive.
  • Lacking holes or hollows; as solid gold, solid chocolate.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.}}
  • Strong or unyielding.
    • a solid foundation
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 2 , author= Phil McNulty , title=England 1-0 Belgium , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=As in the 1-0 win against Norway in Oslo, this was an England performance built on the foundations of solid defence and tactical discipline.}}
  • (slang) Excellent, of high quality, or reliable.
    • That's a solid plan.
    Radiohead's on tour! Have you heard their latest album yet? It's quite solid .
    I don't think Dave would have done that. He's a solid dude.
  • Hearty; filling.
    • a solid meal
  • Worthy of credit, trust, or esteem; substantial; not frivolous or fallacious.
  • * Milton
    • the solid purpose of a sincere and virtuous answer
  • * Dryden
    • These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men.
  • * J. A. Symonds
    • The genius of the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of the Germans had projected in a poem.
  • Sound; not weakly.
    • a solid constitution of body
  • (typography) Written as one word, without spaces or hyphens.
    • American English writes many words as solid that British English hyphenates.
  • (printing, dated) Not having the lines separated by leads; not open.
  • (US, politics, slang) United; without division; unanimous.
    • The delegation is solid for a candidate.
  • Of a single color throughout.
    • John painted the walls solid white.
    He wore a solid shirt with floral pants.
  • (dated) Having all the geometrical dimensions; cubic.
    • A solid''' foot contains 1,728 '''solid inches.

    Related terms

    * solidity * solidly * solid shot * solid state * rock solid, solid as a rock * condensed matter

    Noun

    (wikipedia solid) (en noun)
  • (chemistry) A substance in the fundamental state of matter that retains its size and shape without need of a container (as opposed to a liquid or gas).
  • (geometry) A three-dimensional figure (as opposed to a surface, an area, or a curve).
  • (informal) A favor.
    • Please do me a solid : lend me your car for one week.
    I owe him, he did me a solid last year.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • An article of clothing which is of a single color throughout.
    • I prefer solids over paisleys.
  • (in the plural) Food which is not liquid-based.
    • The doctor said I can't eat any solids four hours before the operation.

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Solidly.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • (not comparable, typography) Without spaces or hyphens.
    • Many long-established compounds are set solid .

    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
    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 ----