ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary Builder›Words›P›plaintive
ISEE/SSAThard
plaintive
sounding sad and mournful
Synonyms
- mournful
- doleful
- melancholy
Antonyms
- cheerful
- joyful
- buoyant
plaintive in a sentence
A plaintive melody drifted from the empty theater.
The violin's plaintive phrase left the concert hall utterly quiet.
Where it comes from
From Old French plaintif, meaning 'lamenting.'
Memory hook
PLAINTIVE contains PLAINT, an old word for a complaint: a plaintive voice sounds sorrowful.
Read it in context
- The Unsmoothed Voice Narrative