plaintive
Plaintive is an adjective for describing someone or something with a pleading, sorrowful, desperate tone. If you have ever heard the plaintive howl of a wolf, then you know what we are getting at here.
A plaint, as in complaint, is an expression of sorrow or grief. This word has also been bent a little at the ends to become plaintiff or complainant — the sufferer — in a lawsuit. So, whether you are hearing a plaintive tone in a courtroom, at a funeral, or in the wild (as in an animal's plaintive howl), you can be assured that someone or something desires something desperately.
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expressing sorrow
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Vocabulary lists containing plaintive
Learn these challenging words that you'll encounter in literature, articles, and textbooks.
Centered around Okonkwo, an Igbo leader who is banished from his community, this novel explores the tension between white missionaries and tribal culture in Nigeria.
In this unflinching memoir, Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a young man imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. 2006 Hill and Wang edition.