plaintive

From Middle English pleintif, plentyff, from French plaintif (“aggrieved, lamenting”), from plainte (“lament, complaint”); see plaint. Doublet of plaintiff.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪntɪv/

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plaintive (comparative more plaintive, superlative most plaintive)

1. Sounding sorrowful, mournful or melancholic.

   Synonyms: miserable, unhappy; see also Thesaurus:cheerless, Thesaurus:sad

   a typically plaintive song from Radiohead

   I can see by your plaintive smile something is wrong, so spill it.

• plaint
• plaintiff

• “plaintive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “plaintive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

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plaintive

1. feminine singular of plaintif