Dictionary

plainly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈpleɪnli/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English playnly, pleinly, pleyneliche, equivalent to plain + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a plain manner; simply; basically.
   • She decorated the room plainly but neatly.
   • 'Tell me plainly what you think of my daughter's little companion.' 1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 95:
2. Obviously; clearly.
   • You will see that ours is plainly the better method.
   • Plainly he was prepared to bark out an interminable succession of charges against the Wanderer. 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 3:
   • The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Forms

Synonyms

obviously · unambiguously · expressly (obviously, clearly)

Translations (12)

hu egyértelműen (Obviously; clearly) · es a palo seco (In a plain manner) · fr clairement (Obviously; clearly) · fi selvästi (Obviously; clearly) · it a chiare note (Obviously; clearly) · hu világosan (Obviously; clearly) · hu egyszerűen (In a plain manner) · fi yksinkertaisesti (In a plain manner) · fi ilmiselvästi (Obviously; clearly) · fr simplement (In a plain manner) · eo klare (Obviously; clearly) · hu nyilvánvalóan (Obviously; clearly)