plain

Mencken, the legendary journalist, said: “No one in this world…has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

White wine vinegar — or even plain distilled white vinegar — is excellent with potatoes, creamy chicken soups and corn chowders.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

"Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple," he added, and being "hit with a hefty fee for a simple spelling mistake on a booking form isn't right either".

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

"If you start out with pure vanilla ice cream but start mixing in sprinkles soon after, it won't be long until you can no longer find any pristine, plain, vanilla ice cream," Zhu said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

It was just a plain baseball cap at the time, but later that year, right before my birthday, it went missing from my room.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Yes, this particular region, about 24.3 cqurzots in radius, is definitely lower than the vast plains outside the depression.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

News of the home invasion spread rapidly across the rolling plains of southwestern Oklahoma.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Some risks can be largely sidestepped: choosing not to build on an earthquake fault line, for example, or in flood plains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Nepal's rivers cross a sharp break in slope at the mountain front, drop their sediment, and spread across the plains as braided, shifting channels.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Jody thought of the wide plains and of the wagons moving across like centipedes.

From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck

He is also often being asked how to zhuzh up plainer fare or find satiety with smaller portions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

Valerie’s quandary seems much plainer in that her show’s success would be a death sentence for entertainment creatives.

From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026

Other measures including plainer packaging for vapes will also help target sales to children, the government says.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024

For example, Chinese zhajiangmian is usually plainer than Korean-Chinese jajangmyeon, which is coated in a thick sauce of fermented black beans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2024

It could not have been plainer that he thought this lesson was a waste of time.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

In “Love and Summer,” William Trevor’s novel of doomed romance and quiet resignation, even the plainest sentence conveys roiling emotion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026

As she explained, the Humphreys case is “squarely among ‘the gravest and most important’ cases in which the no-impeachment rule should yield to avoid ‘violating the plainest principles of justice.’

From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2025

Mr Duck KC said: "It was the plainest of intrusions and the fear it caused was inevitable."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025

Most American films depicting large-scale conflicts tout an anonymous hero's role in a broader conflict, promoting the notion that the smallest, plainest person can be the difference between victory and defeat.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2023

I fiddle with the curly mass of my bangs and slouch down, feeling like the plainest girl ever next to the fashion plate that is Katherine Deveraux.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland