PLAINT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plaint mean? 

• PLAINT (noun)
  The noun PLAINT has 2 senses:

1. (United Kingdom) a written statement of the grounds of complaint made to court of law asking for the grievance to be redressed

2. a cry of sorrow and grief

  Familiarity information: PLAINT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLAINT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(United Kingdom) a written statement of the grounds of complaint made to court of law asking for the grievance to be redressed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("plaint" is a kind of...):

allegation ((law) a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court of law))

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cry of sorrow and grief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

lament; lamentation; plaint; wail

Context example:

their pitiful laments could be heard throughout the ward

Hypernyms ("plaint" is a kind of...):

complaint ((formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow)

 Context examples 

“This plaint is thine, as I learn, brother Ambrose,” said he.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Time! Time! Time! was his unending plaint.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

For three days this blinding headache lasted, and he suffered as wild animals suffer, as it seemed the way on ship to suffer, without plaint, without sympathy, utterly alone.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was invested with the woe of unnumbered generations, this plaint by which Buck was so strangely stirred.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“Well has the holy Chrysostom termed them radix malorum. From Eve downwards, what good hath come from any of them? Who brings the plaint?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)