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plainly

adverb

Form of plain , adverb of plain.

Simple meaning

In a simple way.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

playnlee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpleɪnli

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

  1. In a plain manner; simply; basically.

  2. In a simple manner; without extravagance or embellishment

  3. Obviously; clearly.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

plainly visibleplainly seeplainly markedplainly saw

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • plainadjectiveBase word

    Not elaborate or elaborated.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.