Word.ws English Dictionary

plainer

plainer is the comparative form of plain.

Meaning of plain

Adjective

plain (comparative plainer, superlative plainest)

  1. (archaic, regional) Flat, level.
    • The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 40:4
    Synonyms:
    even, planar, plane
  2. Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
    • He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
  3. Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
    • a plain pink polycotton skirt
  4. Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
    • They're just plain people like you or me.
  5. Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
    • Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?
  6. Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).

See all 24 meanings of plain

Noun

plainer (plural plainers)

  1. A policeman who wears plainclothes.
    • Three pandas were parked round the edge of the wee swing park, lights spinning, flashing blue on a huddle of plainers over by the iron roundabout.2018, Alan Parks, Bloody January
    • The plainer, he was from the Marine police station on Anderson Street and Davin or Devine or something was his name — said nothing.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 18

Forms of plainer

pluralplainers

Words that rhyme with plainer

22 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about plainer

What does plainer mean?
Plainer means a policeman who wears plainclothes.
What is plainer the comparative form of?
Plainer is the comparative form of plain.
What part of speech is plainer?
Plainer is a noun.
What is the plural of plainer?
The plural of plainer is plainers.

Words near plainer in the dictionary

  1. plainclotheswoman
  2. plainclotheswomen
  3. plaine
  4. plained
  5. plainely
  6. plainer
  7. plainers
  8. plainest
  9. Plainfield
  10. plainfin
  11. plainfin midshipman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plainer (page history and authors); plain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “plainer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plainer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.