PLAINTIVE Synonyms: 120 Similar and Opposite Words

plaintive

adjective

ˈplān-tiv

Definition of plaintive

as in mournful

expressing or suggesting mourning the puppy's plaintive expression after we put the toy away was rather amusing

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of plaintive Breathless had started as a somewhat conventional project that Godard turned into an irreverent formal free-for-all; the noirish, plaintive Le petit soldat had enough genre elements to mistake it for something more traditional. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025 People swarmed in every direction: babies, the elderly, plaintive children negotiating dog acquisitions with their parents. —Chloe Malle, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2025 The film is a lolling, ruminating afternoon bathed in sunlight and plaintive reflection as Peter vividly recalls interactions with names that will be familiar to you, like Susan Sontag, and other intellectuals and creators of the period. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 27 Jan. 2025 That was far larger than the closest polls — or the senator’s increasingly plaintive late-campaign messages — had suggested. —Saul Elbein, The Hill, 6 Nov. 2024 See All Example Sentences for plaintive

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plaintive

Adjective

The mournful footnote to Hollywood or Bust is that off-set, the friendship between Martin and Lewis had already broken down irrevocably.

— Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 19 Mar. 2025
Definitely — but there’s a mournful resonance to that in a play where characters reach out so desperately and remain so trapped within themselves.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025