Plain vs Spare - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between plain and spare

is that plain is while spare is scanty; not abundant or plentiful.

As nouns the difference between plain and spare

is that plain is (rare|poetic) a lamentation or plain can be an expanse of land with relatively low relief while spare is the act of sparing; moderation; restraint.

As verbs the difference between plain and spare

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 spare is to show mercy.

As an adverb plain

is (colloquial) simply.

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

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.

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

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

Anagrams

* English degree adverbs ----

spare

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) spare, spar, from (etyl) ‘thick’).

Adjective

(er)

scanty; not abundant or plentiful.

a spare diet

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 24 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=Jones’ sad eyes betray a pervasive pain his purposefully spare dialogue only hints at, while the perfectly cast Brolin conveys hints of playfulness and warmth while staying true to the craggy stoicism at the character’s core. }}

sparing; frugal; parsimonious; chary.

* Carew

He was spare , but discreet of speech.

* {{quote-news, year=2009, date=April 12, author=Phil Patton, title=At VW, the Italian Accent Gets Stronger, work=New York Times citation

, passage=Under Hartmut Warkuss, its design director until 2003, Volkswagen styling celebrated its Teutonic origins and the spare modernist tradition expressed in Braun radios and coffee makers, reference points for the neomodern simplicity of the iPod. }}

Being over and above what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

I have no spare time.

* Spenser

if that no spare clothes he had to give

Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.

a spare''' anchor; a '''spare bed or room

lean; wanting flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.

* Shakespeare

O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.

(obsolete, UK, dialect) slow

(Grose)

Derived terms

* go spare * spare part * spare time * spare tire * spare tyre * spare wheel

Noun

(en noun)

The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.

* Holland

Killing for sacrifice, without any spare .

Parsimony; frugal use.

* Spenser

Poured out their plenty without spite or spare .

An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.

That which has not been used or expended.

A spare part, especially a spare tire.

(bowling) The right of bowling again at a full set of pins, after having knocked all the pins down in less than three bowls. If all the pins are knocked down in one bowl it is a double spare; in two bowls, a single spare.

(bowling) The act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame; this entitles the pins knocked down on the next ball to be added to the score for that frame.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) sparen, sparien, from (etyl) .

Verb

(spar)

To show mercy.

# To desist; to stop; to refrain.

# To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.

# To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy.

#* Bible, (w) vi. 34

He will not spare in the day of vengeance.

#* 1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)

Kill me, if you please, or spare me.

#* {{quote-news, date=21 August 2012, first=Ed, last=Pilkington, newspaper=The Guardian

, title= Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die? , passage=Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.}}

To keep.

# To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.

#* (rfdate) (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

I, who at some times spend, at others spare , / Divided between carelessness and care.

# To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.

#* (rfdate) (John Milton)

[Thou] thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare .

#* (rfdate) Bible, Proverbs xvii. 27

He that hath knowledge, spareth his words.

# (transitive)} To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.

#* (rfdate) (Knolles)

All the time he could spare from the necessary cares of his weighty charge, he bestowed on serving of God.

(to give up) To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.

* (rfdate) (Roscommon)

Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.

* (rfdate) (Shakespeare)

I could have better spared a better man.

* , chapter=22

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.

Anagrams

* * * * * * * * * * * * ----

Plain vs Spare - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between plain and spare

As nouns the difference between plain and spare

As verbs the difference between plain and spare

As an adverb plain

plain

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Adverb

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Noun

Verb

Related terms

Etymology 3

Noun

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Verb

Statistics

Anagrams

spare

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

Derived terms

Noun

Etymology 2

Verb

Anagrams