True vs Plain - What's the difference?
true | plain | Related terms |
(of a statement) Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=
, passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
* Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
(logic) Of the state in Boolean logic that indicates an affirmative or positive result.
Loyal, faithful.
Genuine.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=(Henry Petroski), volume=100, issue=1, page=16, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= Legitimate.
Accurate; following a path toward the target.
* {{quote-journal, year=1801, author=Mrs. Cowley
, title=The siege of Acre, journal=The British Critic, volume=17-18?, page=521
, passage=Whate'er the weapon, still his aim was true , Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.}}
* {{quote-book, year=2008, author=Carl Hiaasen
, title=The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport, page=188
, passage=I held my breath and struck the ball. My aim was true , but I didn't give the damn thing enough gas. It died three feet from the cup.}}
* 1990 , William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis , ISBN 0201159112, page 8:
Accurately.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= Truth.
The state of being in alignment.
* 1904 , Lester Gray French, Machinery , Volume 10:
* 1922 , , '' in ''(Tales of the Jazz Age) :
* 1988 , (Lois McMaster Bujold), (Falling Free) , Baen Publishing, ISBN 0-671-65398-9, page 96:
* 1994 , Bruce Palmer, How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson :
To straighten.
To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust.
to threaten
* 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
True is a related term of plain.
As adjectives the difference between true and plain
is that true is (label) one of two states of a boolean variable; logic while 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.true
English
Adjective
(er)The China Governess, chapter=20
Old soldiers?, passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.
- making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time
The Washington Monument, passage=The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “true' obelisk,” even though it is not. A ' true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.}}
- Let be twice the value of a true die shown on the -th toss.
Antonyms
* false * untrueDerived terms
* come true * ring true * show one's true stripes * to thine own self be true * true believer * true blue * true bug * true colors * True Cross * true daikon * true density * true frog * true-heart * true leaf * true love * true name * true north/True North * true or false/true-or-false * true seal * true stripesAdverb
(-)David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
Wild Plants to the Rescue, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
Noun
- Some toolmakers are very careless when drilling the first hole through work that is to be bored, claiming that if the drilled hole comes out of true somewhat it can be brought true with the boring tool.
- She clapped her hands happily, and he thought how pretty she was really, that is, the upper part of her face—from the bridge of the nose down she was somewhat out of true .
- The crate shifted on its pallet, out of sync now. As the lift withdrew, the crate skidded with it, dragged by friction and gravity, skewing farther and farther from true .
- The strength and number of blows depends on how far out of true the shafts are.
Derived terms
* in true * out of trueVerb
- He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.
- We spent all night truing up the report.
Usage notes
* Often followed by up .Derived terms
* true-upVerb
Derived terms
* (l)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.