Plaintive
['pleɪntɪv] or ['plentɪv]
Definition
(n.) Repining; complaining; lamenting.
(n.) Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad.
Editor: Warren
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Complaining, lamenting, moaning.[2]. Mournful, sorrowful, sad, piteous, woful, rueful, grievous, dirge-like.
Editor: Verna
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Mournful, sorrowful, sad, doleful, melancholy, wailing, touching, moaning
ANT:Joyous, exultant, glad, jubilant, cheerful, cheering, gladdening
Edited by Kitty
Examples
- Mr. Snagsby, having said this in a very plaintive manner, throws in a cough of general application to fill up all the blanks. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Little Georgette still piped her plaintive wail, appealing to me by her familiar termMinnie, Minnie, me very poorly! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- A strain of plaintive music, played on stringed instruments, and flutes, recalled my attention to the hidden shrine. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- A pitiful and plaintive look, with which she had begun to regard him when she was still extremely young, was perhaps a part of this discovery. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- She was not pretty and looked weak and poor, but she had a plaintive and a good face, though it was still a little wild. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- She turned back, fixing her plaintive eyes on Gerty. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Never however see the plaintive take a pick-axe or any other wepping far from it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- You seem unhappy, Mr. Jingle,' said the lady, in a plaintive voice. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Thinks it was the plaintive's air in which that report originatinin. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The plaintive wail which succeeded the passionate roar went to Meg's heart, and she ran up to say beseechingly. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The first half of that space of her life was only just accomplished, when her pitiful and plaintive look saw her father a widower. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The boy had naturally a low, plaintive voice, which in his dour moods rose scarcely above a lady's whisper. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was a great change from Captain Swosser to Professor Dingo, she resumed with a plaintive smile. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- As those words were whispered to me, the plaintive music ceased. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- As I laid my hand on the door opposite, I heard a few plaintive chords struck on the piano in the room within. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
Edited by Kitty