plain

common, ordinary, plain, familiar, popular, vulgar mean generally met with and not in any way special, strange, or unusual. common implies usual everyday quality or frequency of occurrence

• • a common error
• • lacked common honesty

and may additionally suggest inferiority or coarseness.

• • common manners

ordinary stresses conformance in quality or kind with the regular order of things.

• • an ordinary pleasant summer day
• • a very ordinary sort of man

plain is likely to suggest homely simplicity.

• • plain hard-working people

familiar stresses the fact of being generally known and easily recognized.

• • a familiar melody

popular applies to what is accepted by or prevalent among people in general sometimes in contrast to upper classes or special groups.

• • a writer of popular romances

vulgar, otherwise similar to popular, is likely to carry derogatory connotations (as of inferiority or coarseness).

• • souvenirs designed to appeal to the vulgar taste

evident, manifest, patent, distinct, obvious, apparent, plain, clear mean readily perceived or apprehended. evident implies presence of visible signs that lead one to a definite conclusion.

• • an evident fondness for sweets

manifest implies an external display so evident that little or no inference is required.

• • manifest hostility

patent applies to a cause, effect, or significant feature that is clear and unmistakable once attention has been directed to it.

• • patent defects

distinct implies such sharpness of outline or definition that no unusual effort to see or hear or comprehend is required.

• • a distinct refusal

obvious implies such ease in discovering that it often suggests conspicuousness or little need for perspicacity in the observer.

• • the obvious solution

apparent is very close to evident except that it may imply more conscious exercise of inference.

• • for no apparent reason

plain suggests lack of intricacy, complexity, or elaboration.

• • her feelings about him are plain

clear implies an absence of anything that confuses the mind or obscures the pattern.

• • a clear explanation

frank, candid, open, plain mean showing willingness to tell what one feels or thinks. frank stresses lack of shyness or secretiveness or of evasiveness from considerations of tact or expedience.

• • frank discussions

candid suggests expression marked by sincerity and honesty especially in offering unwelcome criticism or opinion.

• • a candid appraisal

open implies frankness but suggests more indiscretion than frank and less earnestness than candid.

• • open in saying what they think

plain suggests outspokenness and freedom from affectation or subtlety in expression.

• • plain talk