| Plaintive 1. (n.) Expressive of sorrow; complaining; lamenting; as, a plaintive wailing. 2. (n.) Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad. Thesaurus Entries Jeremianic, aggrieved, anguished, careworn, complaining, doleful, dolorous, dumb with grief, faultfinding, fretful, grief-stricken, griefful, grieved, grievous, howling, in grief, lamentable, lamenting, lamentive, lugubrious, moanful, mournful, peevish, petulant, piteous, pitiful, plangent, plunged in grief, puling, querulous, rueful, sad, saddening, sorrowed, sorrowful, sorrowing, tearful, ululant, wailful, wailing, whimpering, whining, whiny, woeful |