Sample sentences for PLAINTIVE

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Definition

expressing sadness — sometimes with a plea for help

plaintive = sad

plaintive = sad

"I don't want no trouble," he said plaintively. "Don't let him sock me, George."
John Steinbeck -- Of Mice and Men

plaintively = in a pleading manner (almost begging)

She meant it for his ears alone but Hannah was close enough to him to hear every plaintive syllable.
Jane Yolen -- The Devils Arithmetic

plaintive = sorrowful or pleading

"Jordan, what should I do?" Monique asked plaintively.
Sharon M. Draper -- Forged by Fire

plaintively = in a sad manner

At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?"
Franz Kafka -- Metamorphosis

plaintively = in a manner expressive of sadness

...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

plaintive = expressing sorrow or pleading

Winnie's mother and grandmother sat plaintive all afternoon in the parlor ... their hair unsettled and their knees loose.
Natalie Babbitt -- Tuck Everlasting

plaintive = a little unhappy

"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

plaintively = unhappily

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

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