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Definition
expressing sadness — sometimes with a plea for help- She asked in a plaintive voice.
plaintive = sad
- It is a plaintive poem
- "I don't want no trouble," he said plaintively. "Don't let him sock me, George."John Steinbeck -- Of Mice and Men
- She meant it for his ears alone but Hannah was close enough to him to hear every plaintive syllable.Jane Yolen -- The Devils Arithmetic
- "Jordan, what should I do?" Monique asked plaintively.Sharon M. Draper -- Forged by Fire
- At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?"Franz Kafka -- Metamorphosis
- ...whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty: though the others round it were crowded as full as they could hold.
'Things flow about so here!' she said at last in a plaintive tone,Lewis Carroll -- Through the Looking-Glass - Winnie's mother and grandmother sat plaintive all afternoon in the parlor ... their hair unsettled and their knees loose.Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting
- "Believe me, Winnie Foster," said Jesse, "it would be terrible for you if you drank any of this water. Just terrible. I can't let you."
"Well, I still don't see why not," said Winnie plaintively. I'm getting thirstier every minute."Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting - David repeated Max's name in the same calm, plaintive tone.Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
- Iggy's plaintive voice made me pull back.James Patterson -- Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
- And her mouth damp to his kisses and her eyes plaintive with melancholy and her freshness like new fine linen in the morning.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Winter Dreams
- The sound of the twanging strings, and the appealing vibration of his young voice in a plaintive minor air, came over to her.Grace MacGowan Cooke -- The Power and the Glory
- 'I wonder if the Railway misses us,' she said, plaintively.Edith Nesbit -- The Railway Children
- From the immediate vicinity, a plaintive moan reached Chauvelin's ears.Baroness Orczy -- The Scarlet Pimpernel
- It's plaintive and familiar, a howl in the night for what one has lost and can't get back.Libba Bray -- Sweet Far Thing
- "Do you not see?" she said, and her voice was plaintive now "An end to this business is my mother's only chance for a new beginning.Geraldine Brooks -- Year of Wonders
- She was laughing, her head tilted back, and then I heard Holiday howling plaintively, for I was back where we had both once lived.Alice Sebold -- The Lovely Bones
- A plaintive, beseeching voice caught me in the spine: "Eliezer... my son ... bring me ... a drop of coffee...."Elie Wiesel -- Night
- "Makes you feel hopeless, " she said plaintively.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
plaintive = sad
plaintively = in a pleading manner (almost begging)
plaintive = sorrowful or pleading
plaintively = in a sad manner
plaintively = in a manner expressive of sadness
plaintive = expressing sorrow or pleading
plaintive = a little unhappy
plaintively = unhappily
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