1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. plainly

Find the word definition

What is "plainly"

Crossword clues for plainly

plainly
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
plainly
adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
bluntly/crudely/plainly (=in a direct way that may offend people)
▪ I would put it more bluntly. I think you are wallowing in self-pity.
clearly/plainly visible
▪ The fracture was clearly visible on the X-ray.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
visible
▪ He glared down at us threateningly, arms braced against the high wall, weapon plainly visible.
▪ They looked down from the bridge and saw the arms washed upwards, the plague swellings plainly visible.
▪ The regimental formations were plainly visible, with the colors flying...
▪ Klift's head was plainly visible.
wrong
▪ This is plainly wrong, though no one is sure just how wrong.
▪ The judge's conclusion that there is such a risk was plainly wrong.
▪ That was, of course, plainly wrong.
▪ To that extent that part of the order is plainly wrong and must be set aside.
▪ He says look at the factories and businesses going bust - the letter is plainly wrong.
■ VERB
see
▪ He was shipping water at a furious rate and could plainly see that he was drowning.
speak
▪ The ability of a listener to respond appropriately to instructions is heavily dependent on the ability of the instructor to speak plainly.
▪ We also need to encourage professional researchers to speak plainly.
▪ Let me speak plainly in response to this paragraph.
▪ Researchers who speak plainly are likely to find themselves embroiled in controversy and accused of unscientific bias.
state
▪ The ghetto effect of these areas was plainly stated in the Commissioners' report.
▪ Explicit relevance is where the writer plainly states the importance of a point in relation to the question being dealt with.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Plainly, an investigation into the tragedy would be necessary.
▪ a plainly dressed man
▪ Garver was plainly nervous as she began her speech.
▪ The price is marked plainly on the tag.
▪ Woodard would not say plainly what his plans for the future were.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Indeed, attempts to reshape the opinions and behaviour of today's toe-happy adults are plainly futile.
▪ Intervention, both in theory and practice, is plainly an imperfect science.
▪ Mr Ridley plainly has a taste for the weird.
▪ Officials who packed private restaurants, where the bill for dinner exceeded their weekly wage, were plainly on the take.
▪ This is as true of theoretical and intellectual activities as of more plainly practical ones.
▪ This should have been plainly ridiculous to the Elizabethan audience.
▪ This was plainly an international language.
▪ Understandable as it is, this reaction is plainly not altogether reasonable.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plainly

Plainly \Plain"ly\, adv. In a plain manner; clearly.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
plainly

late 14c., from plain (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "simply, frugally" is from 1560s.

Wiktionary
plainly

adv. 1 In a plain manner; simply; basically. 2 obviously; clearly.

WordNet
plainly

  1. adv. unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly'); "the answer is obviously wrong"; "she was in bed and evidently in great pain"; "he was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list"; "it is all patently nonsense"; "she has apparently been living here for some time"; "I thought he owned the property, but apparently not"; "You are plainly wrong"; "he is plain stubborn" [syn: obviously, evidently, manifestly, patently, apparently, plain]

  2. in a simple manner; without extravagance or embellishment; "she was dressed plainly"; "they lived very simply" [syn: simply]

Usage examples of "plainly".

The apostolical writers do not speak of salvation by the blood of Christ any more plainly than they do of salvation by the name of Christ, salvation by grace, and salvation by faith.

The light had a dull golden cast and a grainy quality, as if mixed in with particles of gloom, and the smell, while it plainly was that of a cleaning agent, did not have the astringency of an industrial cleaner.

The servant brought in the soup, and then asked me very plainly to give her some money if I wanted any wine, as her master and mistress only drank beer.

He was plainly clad, in burnished helmet and breastplate, his gray silk coat alone marking him out from the eighty-one Saldaean lancers arrayed around the hilltop.

She caught Burr watching her with a glint of mockery in his eyes that said her thoughts were plainly written on her face.

Blanche, entreating their mercy, immediately gave up the miniature, while another of the ruffians fiercely interrogated her, concerning what she had overheard of their conversation, when, her confusion and terror too plainly telling what her tongue feared to confess, the ruffians looked expressively upon one another, and two of them withdrew to a remote part of the room, as if to consult further.

She was dressed very plainly, in the rough brown homespun she wore on the Ridge, but the clothes were fresh and clean.

After that, I can plainly see at least six or eight head of horseflesh in that corral behind you.

Therefore it is plainly a heresy condemned long since by the Church to say that in Christ there are two hypostases, or two supposita, or that the union did not take place in the hypostasis or suppositum.

The logothete of the treasury plainly had never imagined, let alone been subjected to, singing like this.

The tracing was not much magnified, and as the lines were plainly zigzag, the cotyledons must have moved a little laterally, that is, they must have circumnutated.

Having learned plainly how affairs stood, Merlin set his own plans accordingly.

The fourth was probably a Chocoes girl while the last two were plainly mestizas of mixed Euro and Indian blood.

But meteorology, which must have been a mere hobby with Basil some years ago, was now plainly in another category.

Brabant whose wife was very ill, and he supposing that she was about to die, after many remonstrances and exhortations for the salvation of her soul, asked her pardon, and she pardoned him all his misdeeds, excepting that he had not worked her as much as he ought to have done--as will appear more plainly in the said story.