plaintive Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite expressing sorrow
    mournful.

WordNet

Plain"tive adjective
Etymology
F. plaintif. See Plaintiff, n.
Definitions
  1. Repining; complaining; lamenting. Dryden.
  2. Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad. "The most plaintive ditty." Landor. -- Plain"tive*ly, adv. -- Plain"tive*ness, n.

Webster 1913