plain

clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment

• “the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields”
• “evident hostility”
• “manifest disapproval”
• “patent advantages”
• “made his meaning plain”
• “it is plain that he is no reactionary”
• “in plain view”

not elaborate or elaborated; simple

• “plain food”
• “stuck to the plain facts”
• “a plain blue suit”
• “a plain rectangular brick building”

lacking patterns especially in color

not mixed with extraneous elements

• “plain water”
• “sheer wine”
• “not an unmixed blessing”

free from any effort to soften to disguise

• “the plain and unvarnished truth”
• “the unvarnished candor of old people and children”

lacking embellishment or ornamentation

• “a plain hair style”
• “unembellished white walls”
• “functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete”

lacking stylistic embellishment

• “a literal description”
• “wrote good but plain prose”
• “a plain unadorned account of the coronation”
• “a forthright unembellished style”

comprehensible to the general public

• “written for the popular press in plain nontechnical language”

lacking in physical beauty or proportion

• “a homely child”
• “several of the buildings were downright homely”
• “a plain girl with a freckled face”

extensive tract of level open land

• “they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain”
• “he longed for the fields of his youth”

a basic knitting stitch

unmistakably (`plain'' is often used informally for `plainly'')

• “the answer is obviously wrong”
• “she was in bed and evidently in great pain”
• “he was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list”
• “it is all patently nonsense”

express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness

• “My mother complains all day”
• “She has a lot to kick about”