plaintive

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As he sings on “Come Back,” the album’s plaintive opener, “I had a really strange reaction, delayed I think by simple fear, if I don’t listen I can’t hear.”

From Salon • May 15, 2026

The plaintive observation, ascribed to the early Victorian British Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne about the acerbically self-confident historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, remains the motto of the thoughtfully skeptical man through the ages.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Gladiator II and Hamnet star Mescal has a huge social media fanbase and mentioned last December he was loving a song called Evelyn, a plaintive folk ballad from Michael's second album Thin White Road.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2026

The English horn issued a plaintive, simple melody, as if trying to evoke older memories of a nearly forgotten time.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2025

“Why are you asking him about the stores?” she interrogated me in Korean, her tongue plaintive, edgy, as though she were in some pain.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee