plaintive

adjective

plain·​tive ˈplān-tiv 

: expressive of suffering or woe : melancholy

a plaintive sigh

plaintively adverb

plaintiveness noun

Did you know?

“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.

Synonyms

• aching
• agonized
• anguished
• bemoaning
• bewailing
• bitter
• deploring
• doleful
• dolesome
• dolorous
• funeral
• grieving
• heartbroken
• lamentable
• lugubrious
• mournful
• plangent
• regretful
• rueful
• sorrowful
• sorry
• wailing
• weeping
• woeful

Examples of plaintive in a Sentence

We could hear the plaintive cry of a wounded animal in the woods.

the puppy's plaintive expression after we put the toy away was rather amusing

Recent Examples on the Web

Kathy becomes our narrator, her mile-a-minute Midwestern patter adding a layer of percussion to the rumbling engines and plaintive crooning of ’60s rock ‘n’ roll on the soundtrack. —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2024

The plaintive ballad spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Song and Record of the Year. —Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 24 July 2024

Yet its plaintive tone underlined a deeper concern. —Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 July 2024

The plaintive piano notes that open Ambient 1: Music for Airports are the first sounds many encountered in connection with ambient music, and the album that gave the genre its name is still widely cited as its greatest. —Daniel Bromfield, SPIN, 16 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English plaintif grieving, from Anglo-French pleintif, plaintif, from plaint

First Known Use

circa 1570, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

plaintive

adjective

plain·​tive ˈplānt-iv 

: showing or expressing sorrow : mournful, sad

a plaintive sigh

plaintively adverb

plaintiveness noun