PLAIN


Meaning of PLAIN in English

I.

noun

ADJECTIVE

▪ open

The horses galloped across the open ~s.

▪ rolling

miles of rolling ~, made fertile by the river

▪ great , vast

▪ flat , flood

▪ fertile

fertile ~s suitable for farming

▪ arid , barren

▪ grassy

▪ coastal

VERB + PLAIN

▪ cross , roam

Herds of buffalo roamed these ~s.

PREPOSITION

▪ across a/the ~

Cattle move freely across the grassy ~.

▪ in a/the ~

the Olduvai Gorge in the vast ~ of Tanzania

▪ on a/the ~

Nothing grew on the ~.

II.

adj.

1 simple/not decorated

VERBS

▪ be , look , seem

ADVERB

▪ extremely , fairly , very , etc.

The food was fairly ~, but well cooked.

▪ completely

The dress was completely ~, but quite stunning.

PHRASES

▪ ~ blue, white, etc.

a ~ white shirt

2 clear

VERBS

▪ be , seem

▪ become

▪ make sth

They made it ~ that they were against the idea.

ADVERB

▪ fairly , very , etc.

▪ absolutely , perfectly , quite

Within weeks, it became perfectly ~ that we were in the grip of a tyrant.

▪ increasingly

▪ reasonably ( esp. BrE )

PREPOSITION

▪ to

It is all very ~ 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

III.

adv.

Plain is used with these adjectives: ↑ bonkers , ↑ creepy , daft, ↑ dumb , ↑ ignorant , ↑ lazy , ↑ lucky , ↑ old-fashioned , ↑ rude , ↑ scared , ↑ silly , ↑ stupid , ↑ ugly , ↑ wrong

Oxford Collocations English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь словосочетаний .