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“The people are drifting from door to door / Can’t find no heaven I don’t care where they go.” So sang Nehemiah Curtis “Skip” James on a Depression-era recording of his song “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues.” James’s somber lyrics as well as his otherworldly falsetto and distinctive minor-key fingerpicking may be aptly described by the adjective plaintive—deeply expressive, like much of the blues. Plaintive comes from the Middle English word plaintif, meaning “grieving,” a borrowing from an identical Anglo-French word that itself was formed from the Anglo-French noun plaint, a word meaning “lamentation.” (Plaint was also adopted directly into English to refer to expressions of sorrow, mourning, or regret.) Plaintif is the source too of the familiar legal term plaintiff, which refers to someone who presents a legal action or complaint to a court. But while only some people become plaintiffs, all are capable of plaintiveness, whether in song or just a world-weary sigh.
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Examples of plaintive in a Sentence
Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 27 Nov. 2024
The unheard melody is unmistakably a plaintive one.
—April White, JSTOR Daily, 18 Nov. 2024
As Paddington, Ben Whishaw’s slightly plaintive voice merges seamlessly with Pablo Grillo’s furry animation.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2024
Coldplay, once skewered by critics for being too plaintive and self-pitying, was now broadcasting the opposite message: everything is magic.
—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near plaintive
Cite this Entry
“Plaintive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plaintive. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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