as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
the puppy's plaintive expression after we put the toy away was rather amusing
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of plaintive
Coldplay, once skewered by critics for being too plaintive and self-pitying, was now broadcasting the opposite message: everything is magic.
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Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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
See all Example Sentences for plaintive 
Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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
See all Example Sentences for plaintive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plaintive
Adjective
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Very few directors working today can put across a movie like Gladiator II as convincingly, which perhaps explains why the sequel — for all its barbaric violence and the plaintive, at times stirring, discussions about justice and democracy — doesn’t have the mournful quality that the first film did.Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
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Russell Crowe beating people to death in a soulful, mournful way?Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.David Mamet, National Review, 11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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Dido, after her lover Aeneas deserts her, kills herself with his sword on a funeral pyre, but not before building an effigy of him to burn alongside her.Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024
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The Associated Press reported that the funeral location was not made public in advance to prevent a large crowd from gathering.Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Madison is flawless in these closing scenes: stunned, heartbroken, unable to respond to the tentative romantic gestures of a Russian henchman who's taken a shine to her.Tom Gliatto, People.com, 11 Dec. 2024
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Dog Breeds For Your Perfect Match By Brian Dillon Home & Travel Reporter 0 A dog that chewed through a wall to see its owner has left the internet heartbroken.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The two are likely headed for a new bitter legal fight with money at stake.Alina Selyukh, NPR, 11 Dec. 2024
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The pith can be bitter, so some people don’t like the taste.Merve Ceylan, Health, 10 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near plaintive
Cite this Entry
“Plaintive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plaintive. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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