the day after the massacre the plaints of bereaved mothers and wives could be heard throughout the village
that taxes are too high is perhaps the most perennial of plaints
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But Barham plays the role both for plaints and for boasts.—Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 21 May 2025 Gay’s plaint is a variation of the good speakers are born belief.—Jerry Weissman, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025 This wry, lovelorn plaint is a cagey display of subtle dynamics and counterpoint on a lone electric guitar.—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2025 This wry, lovelorn plaint is a cagey display of subtle dynamics and counterpoint on a lone electric guitar.—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2025 And to be perfectly fair, the New Deal had seven or eight big years of operation (the plaints about the Supreme Court etc. blocking reforms being so many excuses).—Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024 Goldberger's plaint is overstated.—Michelle Goldberg, Star Tribune, 8 June 2021 The finished song is desolate but resilient, a hell of a plaint.—Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2022 Somewhere between folk-rock plaint and short story, Margo Price sings about a pregnant woman at a clinic, with a hard-luck past and a tough decision to make.—Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2022
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin planctus, from plangere to strike, beat one's breast, lament; akin to Old High German fluokhōn to curse, Greek plēssein to strike
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