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Plaintive

 - 3 dictionary results

plain⋅tive

  [pleyn-tiv]
–adjective
expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful: a plaintive melody.
Use Plaintive in a Sentence
Origin:
1350–1400; plaint + -ive; r. ME plaintif < MF

Related forms:
plain⋅tive⋅ly, adverb
plain⋅tive⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
wistful, sorrowful, sad.

Antonyms:
happy, joyful.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To Plaintive
plain·tive   (plān'tĭv)   
adj.  Expressing sorrow; mournful or melancholy.

[Middle English plaintif, from Old French, aggrieved, lamenting, from plaint, complaint; see plaint.]
plain'tive·ly adv., plain'tive·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

plaintive 
1390, "lamenting," from O.Fr. plaintif "complaining," from pleint (see plaint). Sense of "mournful, sad" first recorded 1579.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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