Word of the Day

plaintive \PLAYN-tiv\, adjective:
Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad.

Meanwhile Jack Byron's plight in France was becoming desperate and his letters to his sister increasingly plaintive.
--Phyllis Grosskurth, [1] Byron: The Flawed Angel

The shadows have lengthened, and the night birds have begun their plaintive chorus.
--Valerie Martin, "Being St. Francis," [2] The Atlantic, August 2000

... the plaintive cries of loneliness of the immigrant.
--Jeremy Eichler, "Tango and the Individual Talent," [3] New Republic, July 3, 2000

Plaintive derives from Old French plainte, "complaint," from Latin planctus, past participle of plangere, "to strike (one's breast), to lament."