Meaning & use
Plaint
Last updated
A formal statement of complaint or grievance, especially one that initiates a lawsuit.
See it in a sentence
The lawyer filed a plaint with the civil court on behalf of her client.
His poem was less a plaint against fate than a quiet acceptance of it.
A note on using this word
Though now mostly replaced by 'complaint' in everyday English, 'plaint' survives as formal legal terminology in several common-law jurisdictions, and gives us the word 'plaintiff'.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. noun
A mournful expression of sorrow; a lament (chiefly literary or poetic).
The old ballad opens with a plaint for a love lost at sea.
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