Synonyms of plainly

plainly

adverb

1

as in openly

in an honest and direct manner

you'll have to tell your relatives very plainly that you don't like perfume, or they'll keep giving it to you

Synonyms & Similar Words

• openly
• sincerely
• plain
• honestly
• straightforwardly
• simply
• straightforward
• abruptly
• forthrightly
• directly
• straight
• frankly
• sharply
• baldly
• candidly
• bluntly
• earnestly
• unreservedly
• curtly
• brusquely
• rudely
• truthfully
• foursquare
• artlessly
• unguardedly
• gruffly
• inconsiderately
• impolitely
• openheartedly
• bluffly
• tactlessly
• veraciously
• point-blank

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• politely
• tactfully
• wordily
• courteously
• verbosely
• diplomatically
• civilly
• falsely
• erroneously
• mendaciously
• untruthfully
• deceitfully
• indirectly
• hypocritically
• long-windedly
• fallaciously
• ambiguously
• insincerely
• equivocally
• evasively
• circuitously

2

as in certainly

without any question

your wife is plainly upset that you didn't invite her to the game with us

Synonyms & Similar Words

• certainly
• surely
• definitely
• clearly
• sure
• probably
• really
• undoubtedly
• likely
• easily
• truly
• assuredly
• so
• unquestionably
• undeniably
• indisputably
• damn well
• for certain
• doubtless
• indeed
• by all means
• possibly
• incontestably
• obviously
• perhaps
• incontrovertibly
• inarguably
• unarguably
• for sure
• all right
• alright
• by all odds
• forsooth
• conceivably
• unmistakably
• hands down

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of plainly

Send it to a dedicated landing page that explains the investment, states the capital requirement plainly and asks the candidate to complete a real application. — Jonathan Durante, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026

In a September 2025 piece for Vogue, shopping market editor Andrea Zendejas made the case plainly. — Lauren Schuster, Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2026

This is in stark contrast to more plainly colored moths, for example, which are the preferred prey of many airborne predators. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 30 Sep. 2026

And Thunberg, who in January 2025 visited the Sahrawi camps with Lamin accompanying and translating for her, spoke plainly about what must change and called out the media for its silence. — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026

Put plainly, Birdbuddy is no longer running ahead of the pack. — Jim Fisher, PC Magazine, 27 Sep. 2026

Illustration by Cristina Spanò The fact of declining birth rates, in societies of all types around the world, is plainly established. — Ian Crouch, New Yorker, 24 Sep. 2026

Torres confirmed to the Herald that the part-time positions are being eliminated, attributing it plainly to budget timing. — Verónica Egui Brito, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2026

Michael Vermeer, a senior physical scientist at the RAND Corporation, puts it plainly. — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026