plaint
/pleɪnt
/noun
1 Law, British An accusation or charge.There was only one plaint in the District Court but two appeals in the Court of Appeal....
- In the absence of a formal plaint there is no legal basis to press further charges.
- What they did not tell the court is that at the time they lodged their plaint, KCA had no officials, and a Normalisation Committee had been registered.
2chiefly literary A complaint or lamentation: it is a familiar plaint—no jobs for young researchers...
- The plaint is old and familiar, but not misplaced or ill-timed.
- So great was the indignation that the empty plaints of a few celebrities who groused about leaving the country in 2000 became a popular badge of outrage last week.
- To you I come to make my plaint, good sire In the presence of the barons of your empire.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French plainte, feminine past participle of plaindre 'complain', or from Old French plaint, from Latin planctus 'beating of the breast'.