- plain
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} nounADJECTIVE▪ open▪
The horses galloped across the open plains.
▪ rolling▪miles of rolling plain, made fertile by the river
▪ great, vast▪ flat, flood▪ fertile▪fertile plains suitable for farming
▪ arid, barren▪ grassy▪ coastalVERB + PLAIN▪ cross, roam▪Herds of buffalo roamed these plains.
PREPOSITION▪ across a/the plain▪Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.
▪ in a/the plain▪the Olduvai Gorge in the vast plain of Tanzania
▪ on a/the plain▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}Nothing grew on the plain.
adj.1 simple/not decoratedVERBS▪ be, look, seemADVERB▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc.▪The food was fairly plain, but well cooked.
▪ completely▪The dress was completely plain, but quite stunning.
PHRASES▪ plain blue, white, etc.▪a plain white shirt
2 clearVERBS▪ be, seem▪ become▪ make sth▪They made it plain that they were against the idea.
ADVERB▪ fairly, very, etc.▪ absolutely, perfectly, quite▪Within weeks, it became perfectly plain that we were in the grip of a tyrant.
▪ increasingly▪ reasonably (esp. BrE)PREPOSITION▪ to▪It is all very plain to me.
Plain is used with these nouns: ↑carpet, ↑chocolate, ↑clothes, ↑common sense, ↑cotton, ↑crisp, ↑dress, ↑English, ↑envelope, ↑fabric, ↑face, ↑fact, ↑fare, ↑flour, ↑folk, ↑food, ↑fun, ↑glass, ↑language, ↑linen, ↑luck, ↑paper, ↑prose, ↑shirt, ↑stupidity, ↑T-shirt, ↑text, ↑tile, ↑truth, ↑white, ↑woman, ↑word, ↑wrapper, ↑yogurt{{Roman}}III.{{/Roman}}adv.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
