📖 P — The English dictionary · page 33

placard — Everyday, meaning 1: A large card or board with a message written on it, carried at a protest or march, or put up in public.↗ Example: The protesters carried placards saying "Save our park".↗ · Suffragettes held placards asking for votes for women.↗ · We made placards for the class march about litter.↗ · The placard was written in big red letters.↗ · Fans held up placards for their favourite player.↗ · Police asked them to lower their placards.↗ · The sunlight shone on only one of the walls, and that one was stuck over with bills and placards, before which the people stood still; and this made a crowd.↗

placate — Everyday, meaning 1: To make someone feel less angry or upset, often by giving them something or saying something kind.↗ Example: She tried to placate her brother with a biscuit.↗ · The shop gave a free gift to placate the angry customer.↗ · Nothing could placate the furious teacher.↗ · Ancient people offered gifts to placate their gods.↗ · He apologised to placate his friend.↗ · The manager placated the fans with free tickets.↗

place — Everyday, meaning 1: A place is a particular area, spot or position: a quiet place.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A place is a town, building or home: come to my place.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A place is a position in a race or a list: first place.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In maths, the place of a digit gives its value: the tens place.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To place is to put something somewhere carefully.↗ Example: I place one cup on the table.↗ · Sara places 4 plates on each of 3 tables.↗ · Ben places 6 more books on the shelf.↗ · In 352 the digit 5 is in the tens place.↗ · Mia came in first place in the race.↗ · This park is my favourite place.↗ · Put the book back in its place.↗ · The school fair will take place on Saturday.↗ · At last he reached the place.↗ · And Laban departed, and returned unto his place.↗ (Torah GEN.31.55, JPS 1917)↗ · Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.↗ (Torah GEN.33.17, JPS 1917)↗ · Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them.↗ (Torah GEN.21.31, JPS 1917)↗ · Jonathan upon thy high places is slain!↗ (Prophets 2SA.1.25, JPS 1917)↗ · And where is the place of understanding?↗ (Writings JOB.28.12, JPS 1917)↗ · How are his hidden places sought out!↗ (Prophets OBA.1.6, JPS 1917)↗

placebo — Everyday, meaning 1: A placebo is a fake medicine, such as a sugar pill, that has no medicine in it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The placebo effect is when someone feels better just because they believe they have been treated.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In a science test of a medicine, one group gets the real medicine and another group gets a placebo, so scientists can compare.↗ Example: Half the volunteers got the new medicine and half got a placebo.↗ · The placebo was just a sugar pill.↗ · Some people felt better because of the placebo effect.↗ · The scientists compared the medicine group with the placebo group.↗ · If the medicine works no better than a placebo, it does not really work.↗ · The lift's «close door» button might be a placebo that does nothing.↗ · Our class did a taste test where some drinks were a placebo.↗

placement — Everyday, meaning 1: Putting something in a certain place or position: «the placement of the furniture».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (UK, Ireland, Australia) A short job or training time in a workplace to get experience: «a work placement».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Finding a place for someone, like a school, job or home: «a school placement».↗ Example: The placement test showed which reading group I should join.↗ · My sister has a work placement at a vet's.↗ · The placement of the smoke alarm is on the ceiling.↗ · Careful placement of the decimal point changes the number.↗ · The placement of the plants by the window helps them grow.↗ · Product placement means films show brand names to advertise them.↗ · The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new placement of the illustrations, but are as in the original.↗

placental — Everyday, meaning 1: To do with the placenta, the organ that grows inside a mother during pregnancy to give the baby food and oxygen.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (placental mammals) Mammals whose babies grow inside the mother with a placenta, such as humans, dogs, cats and whales.↗ Example: Humans are placental mammals.↗ · Kangaroos are marsupials, not placentals.↗ · Whales and bats are placental mammals.↗ · The placental blood carries food to the baby.↗ · Australia has many marsupials but also placental mammals like dingoes.↗ · Most mammals on Earth are placental.↗

placid — Everyday, meaning 1: Calm, peaceful and not easily upset or excited: «a placid horse».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of water) Still and smooth: «a placid lake».↗ Example: The old horse was placid and gentle.↗ · The lake was placid in the early morning.↗ · Our baby is very placid.↗ · Cows grazed placidly in the meadow.↗ · The river flowed placid and slow.↗ · He has a placid nature and never shouts.↗

placidly — Everyday, meaning 1: In a calm, peaceful way, without getting excited or upset.↗ Example: The cows grazed placidly in the meadow.↗ · The river flowed placidly past the Rat's house.↗ · She smiled placidly at the fuss.↗ · The cat sat placidly in the window.↗ · The old horse stood placidly by the gate.↗ · The baby slept placidly through the noise.↗ · For long he muttered to himself, staring at Smee, who was hemming placidly, under the conviction that all children feared him.↗

plage — Everyday, meaning 1: (French) «Plage» is the French word for «beach»: «la plage» means «the beach»; it sounds like «plahzh» to an English ear and is not an everyday English word.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science, rare) In astronomy a plage is a bright patch in the Sun's atmosphere near a sunspot.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In English it may appear in names of seaside places, like Paris-Plages.↗ Example: «Plage» means «beach» in French.↗ · (French) Nous allons à la plage. — We are going to the beach.↗ · The sign in France said «Plage 500 m».↗ · (French) La plage est très belle. — The beach is very beautiful.↗ · We sang a French song about a day at the plage.↗ · In English you say beach, but in French you say plage.↗ · Scientists photographed a bright plage near a sunspot.↗ · (French) Il y a du sable sur la plage. — There is sand on the beach.↗

plagiarised — Everyday, meaning 1: Plagiarised means copied from someone else's work and passed off as your own, without saying where it came from.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: As an adjective it describes work that was copied in this way.↗ Example: The teacher found that the essay was plagiarised.↗ · He plagiarised a poem and said he wrote it.↗ · Plagiarised work gets zero marks.↗ · Don't copy and paste — that's plagiarised writing.↗ · She was upset that her story had been plagiarised.↗ · Use your own words so your work isn't plagiarised.↗ · The song was accused of being plagiarised.↗ · Always list your sources to avoid plagiarised work.↗

plagiarism — Everyday, meaning 1: Plagiarism is copying someone else's words, ideas or work and pretending they are your own.↗ Example: Copying a website word for word is plagiarism.↗ · Use your own words to avoid plagiarism.↗ · The teacher spotted the plagiarism.↗ · Always say where your facts came from.↗ · Plagiarism is a kind of cheating.↗ · Putting quotation marks around copied words and naming the writer is not plagiarism.↗

plague — Everyday, meaning 1: A plague is a serious disease that spreads quickly and kills many people; "the plague" usually means bubonic plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages, spread by fleas on rats.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (Bible) The ten plagues were the disasters God sent on Egypt in Exodus — such as frogs, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn — so Pharaoh would free the Israelites.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A plague of something is a huge, annoying number of it.↗ e.g. "a plague of wasps".↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To plague someone is to keep bothering or troubling them.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: An old-fashioned curse, such as "a plague on" someone, is a wish that something bad will happen to them.↗ Example: The plague spread through the city, carried by fleas on rats.↗ · The fourth plague was swarms of flies.↗ · Locusts came in a plague and ate the crops.↗ · The village of Eyam stayed apart so the plague would not spread.↗ · Our picnic was plagued by wasps.↗ · I avoid spiders like the plague.↗ · He was plagued by worries before the test.↗ · A plague on the shrew and on her pudding!↗ · So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.↗ (Torah NUM.25.8, JPS 1917)↗ · And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand.↗ (Torah NUM.25.9, JPS 1917)↗ · And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.↗ (Torah NUM.16.48, JPS 1917)↗ · Then stood up Phinehas, and wrought judgment, and so the plague was stayed.↗ (Writings PSA.106.30, JPS 1917)↗ · In the trouble of man they are not; neither are they plagued like men.↗ (Writings PSA.73.5, JPS 1917)↗ · For all the day have I been plagued, and my chastisement came every morning.↗ (Writings PSA.73.14, JPS 1917)↗

plaice — Everyday, meaning 1: A plaice is a flat sea fish with brown skin and orange spots, eaten as food.↗ Example: We had plaice and chips for lunch.↗ · The fisherman caught three plaice.↗ · Plaice lie flat on the sea floor.↗

plain — Everyday, meaning 1: Plain means simple, with nothing added or no decoration, like a plain T-shirt or plain yogurt.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Plain means easy to see or understand; clear, as in «it was plain that he was tired».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A plain is a large, flat area of land with few trees.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Plain can describe someone who is not especially good-looking (not kind to say).↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Plain (adverb) means completely, as in «plain silly».↗ Example: I'd like a plain biscuit, please.↗ · Draw your picture on plain paper.↗ · It was plain that she was upset.↗ · Buffalo once roamed the Great Plains.↗ · The instructions were written in plain English.↗ · He wore a plain white shirt.↗ · The keys were in plain sight on the table.↗ · After the first hill, it was plain sailing.↗ · That's just plain silly.↗ · And they pitched by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.↗ (Torah NUM.33.49, JPS 1917)↗ · And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: (Torah NUM.33.50, JPS 1917)↗ · And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.↗ (Torah NUM.22.1, JPS 1917)↗ · And after him repaired the priests, the men of the Plain.↗ (Writings NEH.3.22, JPS 1917)↗ · Make plain the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.↗ (Writings PRO.4.26, JPS 1917)↗ · They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.↗ (Writings PRO.8.9, JPS 1917)↗

plainly — Everyday, meaning 1: Plainly means clearly, so that it is easy to see, hear or understand.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Plainly means simply, without decoration.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Plainly means honestly and directly.↗ Example: He was plainly tired after the long walk.↗ · The answer is plainly written on the board.↗ · The room was plainly decorated with white walls.↗ · To put it plainly, you need to try harder.↗ · The top of the mountain was plainly visible.↗ · She spoke plainly about the problem.↗ · I can remember them quite plainly.↗ · And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.'↗ (Torah DEU.27.8, JPS 1917)↗ · But if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; (Torah EXO.21.5, JPS 1917)↗ · And they said: 'We saw plainly that the LORD was with thee; and we said: Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; (Torah GEN.26.28, JPS 1917)↗ · the letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me.↗ (Writings EZR.4.18, JPS 1917)↗ · The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.↗ (Prophets ISA.32.4, JPS 1917)↗ · And Saul said unto his uncle: 'He told us plainly that the asses were found.'↗ But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spoke, he told him not.↗ (Prophets 1SA.10.16, JPS 1917)↗

plaintive — Everyday, meaning 1: Sounding sad, like someone complaining or crying softly: «a plaintive cry».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Sad and gentle, asking for pity.↗ Example: The lost kitten gave a plaintive mew.↗ · We heard the plaintive cry of a seagull.↗ · «Ratty, please come back!» came the Mole's plaintive call.↗ · She sang a plaintive song about home.↗ · The dog gave a plaintive whine at the door.↗ · His plaintive voice made us feel sorry for him.↗ · Wendy was now almost overhead, and they could hear her plaintive cry.↗

plait — Everyday, meaning 1: A plait is a length of hair divided into three strands that are crossed over each other again and again to make one neat rope-like piece.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A plait is any rope, bread or strip of straw or cloth made in the same crossed way.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To plait means to cross three or more strands over each other to make this shape.↗ Example: Mum plaited my hair before school.↗ · Chloe wore her hair in two long plaits.↗ · A boy in the line kept tugging her plait, so she told the teacher.↗ · We plaited three strips of coloured paper to make a bookmark.↗ · Can you do a French plait?↗ · The baker sold a shiny plaited loaf.↗ · Her plait came undone during PE.↗ · Grandma taught me how to plait wool for a bracelet.↗ · Then Rapunzel let down her plaits, and the Witch climbed up by them.↗ · And they made upon the breastplate plaited chains, of wreathen work of pure gold.↗ (Torah EXO.39.15, JPS 1917)↗ · And thou shalt make upon the breastplate plaited chains of wreathen work of pure gold.↗ (Torah EXO.28.22, JPS 1917)↗ · and the plaited garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office; (Torah EXO.31.10, JPS 1917)↗