1
as in honesty
the free expression of one's true feelings and opinions
his unabashed plainness in telling people exactly what he thought of them was often offensive
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in simplicity
the quality or state of having a form or structure of few parts or elements
the plainness and clean lines of that coffeemaker make it a piece of modern sculpture as well as a kitchen appliance
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of plainness
The through-line across all of it – the music, the acting, the international stages – is a pair of principles Lo articulates with plainness.
—
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Maybe that’s because the interiors have a certain plainness — one that’s accurate to Georgian classicism but boring to Hollywood hotshots.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2026
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Maybe that’s because the interiors have a certain plainness — one that’s accurate to Georgian classicism but boring to Hollywood hotshots.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plainness
Noun
-
That includes not wanting to help people through tactful honesty.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
-
The Moon settles into your 4th House of Home, where honesty builds trust quickly.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
This was the most straightforward, efficient episode of the season, pleasurable in its simplicity, with only one gimmick (the to-go orders) that barely made a difference to the episode’s outcome.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
28 Apr. 2026
-
That simplicity is an advantage that baseball has over hockey, where everything moves so much faster and the plays don’t happen in discrete chunks.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Floyd’s sincerity, the startling extremity of his concern for the comfort of others, snaps Clark out of his depressed, and depressing, complacency.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
-
But as the left grows increasingly distrustful of big tech companies, progressives aren’t convinced of the moguls’ sincerity.—
Nicholas Wu,
semafor.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This is the meeting of the messenger planet and the taskmaster, let alone in the zodiac’s most fearless sign, setting the stage for a transit that cuts right through the fluff, forcing truth and directness.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
20 Apr. 2026
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The plainspoken lyrics align with a broader embrace of sincerity, privileging emotional directness over irony.—
Emma Madden,
Pitchfork,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Just as the story mines humor from the collision of old-fashioned ways with a modern frankness, Paul’s score combines the appeal of jaunty golden-age sounds with a freshness that feels present day.—
Naveen Kumar,
Variety,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Her love for the city is palpable, imbued with her frankness, her fun, her queerness, and her history.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Mary Gaitskill is particularly good at this ideal combination of straightforwardness and pithiness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Her question, in Lipe-Smith’s inquisitive piccolo of a voice, is heartbreaking in its blend of straightforwardness and desperate desire, as is her mother’s wavering response.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
But the bluntness of the lyrics arrives just as quickly, undercutting the atmosphere by naming too plainly what the music had already begun to evoke with greater force.—
Emma Madden,
Pitchfork,
30 Apr. 2026
-
If someone tends to have more of a combative communication style, they might have been raised to see bluntness as just telling the truth.—
Nancy Pulciano,
Rolling Stone,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
To say we are disappointed by the lack of urgency and forthrightness from the city attorney’s office is an understatement.—
City News Service,
Daily News,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Fortune spoke with six people who have invested in Anthropic to get a sense of how this key constituency is feeling about the situation, and found that opinions were not unified despite the company’s longstanding forthrightness about its values.—
Jessica Mathews,
Fortune,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Plainness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plainness. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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