PLAINT Synonyms: 72 Similar and Opposite Words

plaint

noun

ˈplānt

Definition of plaint

as in lamentation

a crying out in grief the day after the massacre the plaints of bereaved mothers and wives could be heard throughout the village

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in complaint

an expression of dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment that taxes are too high is perhaps the most perennial of plaints

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of plaint Like Emanuel and his comrades, Harper and his film go a meaningful way in asking and offering an answer to that plaint. — Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 27 Jan. 2026 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plaint

Noun

Ḥusayn’s death became for the Shiʿah a symbol of selfless resistance against worldly injustice and tyranny and is commemorated with lamentation each year on Ashura.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 July 2026
Moments of humor sit alongside lamentation and ritual intensity, underscoring the exhibition’s refusal of a single, fixed reading.

— George Nelson, ARTnews.com, 20 Apr. 2026

Definition of lamentation

Noun

Mold, mice, dirty bathrooms, overflowing trash cans and unattended animal carcasses are just some of the complaints from teachers in Cook County School District 130—serving Blue Island, Robbins, Alsip, and Crestwood.

— Charlie De Mar, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026
Later that day, Triunfel returned to the apartment and disabled a security camera that had recorded the crime, the complaint states.

— Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of complaint

Noun

Feverish with feeling, the women scream, wail and sob, each one experiencing her misery multiply in real time as the remaining two look on in disdain.

— Natalia Winkelman, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
Geddy Lee, Rush No bassist’s singing voice has ever created a more pronounced contrast with his instrument than Rush’s Geddy Lee, who moved the piercing wail of influences like Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant up another octave.

— Al Shipley, SPIN, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of wail

Noun

The mystic whine of Christine Ott and Mathieu Gabry’s score carries us into a hidden world of ancient Thai deities living inside the mountain’s caves and tunnels.

— Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026
Meanwhile, turbo noise fills the cabin alongside the odd electric motor whine.

— Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

Definition of whine

Noun

Scott’s face, in this shot, is a whole novel, disintegrating into tears before being shored up again, eventually rearranged into something resembling a welcoming smile that teeters on the edge of collapse.

— Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026
The strip measures how much the eye produces tears over about five minutes.

— Julie Scott, Verywell Health, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of tears

Noun

Letby filed a grievance, saying that she had been removed from her job without justification.

— Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2026
In January, shortly before the war, Iran saw some of its largest nationwide protests in history, which began over the struggling economy and turned to wider grievances.

— Nasser Karimi, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of grievance

Noun

Williams intermittently cuts to ominous exterior shots of a dark church and layers in a score of hymnal lament.

— Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 15 Sep. 2026
That ambiguity is echoed in Banks’ score, which takes on the tone of a lament and a celebration, frustration and hope, struggle and liberation, the quest for transcendence in the face of the challenges posed by daunting inequities.

— George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026