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plaintive

 - 3 dictionary results

plain⋅tive

[pleyn-tiv]
–adjective
expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful: a plaintive melody.

Origin:
1350–1400; plaint + -ive; r. ME plaintif < MF


plain⋅tive⋅ly, adverb
plain⋅tive⋅ness, noun


wistful, sorrowful, sad.


happy, joyful.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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