Field vs. Plain — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on September 17, 2023
A "Field" is a specific area of open land, often cultivated, while a "Plain" refers to a vast expanse of flat, treeless land.
Difference Between Field and Plain
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A "Field" typically signifies a smaller area of land, often enclosed and used for cultivation, farming, or other specific purposes. In contrast, a "Plain" represents a more extensive, vast expanse of flat land, often characterized by the absence of trees and hills.
While both "Field" and "Plain" refer to land areas, the scale often differentiates them. A "Field" might be a specific plot within a larger landscape, while a "Plain" can stretch over several miles, encompassing multiple fields and other land types.
The use of the word "Field" can also extend beyond the realm of geography. For instance, one might refer to a "Field" of study or a magnetic "Field". "Plain", on the other hand, often pertains strictly to landscapes but can also mean something simple or unadorned.
In terms of human interaction, a "Field" is usually more cultivated, implying direct human intervention, such as planting crops. A "Plain", however, might remain untouched or only grazed by wild animals, maintaining its natural state.
Comparison Chart
Human Interaction
Often cultivated or used for specific purposes.
Might be untouched or lightly inhabited.
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Topography
Can be flat or slightly uneven.
Generally flat without significant elevation.
Presence of Vegetation
Varies, might be cultivated with specific plants.
Typically treeless.
Additional Meanings
Can refer to area of expertise or magnetic realm.
Can mean simple or clear.
Compare with Definitions
Field
A broad, level, open expanse of land.
Plain
A large area of flat, treeless land.
The plain stretched for miles, its vastness overwhelming.
Field
An area for a specific activity, like sports.
The soccer team practiced on the field.
Plain
Clear and understandable.
Her explanation was plain and to the point.
Field
A branch of study or expertise.
She's an expert in her field of neurology.
Plain
Lacking adornment or decoration.
She preferred her clothes plain and without frills.
Field
A space influenced by a particular force.
The magnetic field surrounded the magnet.
Plain
An obvious truth.
The evidence made it plain to see.
Field
A meadow
Cows grazing in a field.
Plain
Ordinary or average.
He was a plain man with simple tastes.
Field
A cultivated expanse of land, especially one devoted to a particular crop
A field of corn.
Plain
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and are primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides, but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, by mountains, or by cliffs.
Field
A portion of land or a geologic formation containing a specified natural resource
A copper field.
Plain
Not decorated or elaborate; simple or basic in character
Everyone dined at a plain wooden table
Good plain food
Field
A wide unbroken expanse, as of ice.
Plain
Having no pretensions; not remarkable or special
A plain, honest man with no nonsense about him
Field
A battleground.
Plain
Easy to perceive or understand; clear
The advantages were plain to see
It was plain that something was wrong
Field
(Archaic) A battle.
Plain
(of a person) not beautiful or attractive
A plain, round-faced woman
Field
The scene or an area of military operations or maneuvers
Officers in the field.
Plain
Sheer; simple (used for emphasis)
The main problem is just plain exhaustion
Field
A background area, as on a flag, painting, or coin
A blue insignia on a field of red.
Plain
Denoting or relating to a type of knitting stitch produced by putting the needle through the front of each stitch from left to right.
Field
(Heraldry) The background of a shield or one of the divisions of the background.
Plain
Used for emphasis
Perhaps the youth was just plain stupid
Field
An area or setting of practical activity or application outside an office, school, factory, or laboratory
Biologists working in the field.
A product tested in the field.
Plain
Clearly or unequivocally
I'm finished with you, I'll tell you plain
Field
An area or region where business activities are conducted
Sales representatives in the field.
Plain
A large area of flat land with few trees
The coastal plain
Field
An area in which an athletic event takes place, especially the area inside or near to a running track, where field events are held.
Plain
Mourn or lament.
Field
In baseball, the positions on defense or the ability to play defense
She excels in the field.
Plain
Free from obstructions; open; clear
In plain view.
Field
In baseball, one of the three sections of the outfield
He can hit to any field.
Plain
Obvious to the perception or mind; evident
Make one's intention plain.
Field
A range, area, or subject of human activity, interest, or knowledge
Several fields of endeavor.
Plain
Not elaborate or complicated; simple
Plain food.
Field
The contestants or participants in a competition or athletic event, especially those other than the favorite or winner.
Plain
Marked by little or no ornamentation or decoration
Plain garb.
Field
The body of riders following a pack of hounds in hunting.
Plain
Straightforward; frank or candid
Plain talk.
Field
The people running in an election for a political office
The field has been reduced to three candidates.
Plain
Not pretentious; unaffected.
Field
(Mathematics) A set of elements having two operations, designated addition and multiplication, satisfying the conditions that multiplication is distributive over addition, that the set is a group under addition, and that the elements with the exception of the additive identity form a group under multiplication.
Plain
Lacking beauty or distinction
A plain face.
Field
(Physics) A physical quantity in a region of space, such as gravitational force or fluid pressure, having a distinct value (scalar, vector, or tensor) at each point.
Plain
Not mixed with other substances; pure
Plain water.
Field
The usually circular area in which the image is rendered by the lens system of an optical instrument; field of view.
Plain
Common in rank or station; average; ordinary
A plain man.
Field
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored.
Plain
Not dyed, twilled, or patterned
A plain fabric.
Field
A space, as on an online form or request for information, that accepts the input of text
An address field.
Plain
Sheer; utter; unqualified
Plain stupidity.
Field
Growing, cultivated, or living in fields or open land.
Plain
(Archaic) Having no visible elevation or depression; flat; level.
Field
Made, used, or carried on in the field
Field operations.
Plain
Often plains An extensive, level, usually treeless area of land.
Field
Working, operating, or active in the field
Field representatives of a firm.
Plain
A broad level expanse, as a part of the sea floor or a lunar mare.
Field
(Sports) To catch or pick up (a ball) and often make a throw to another player, especially in baseball.
Plain
Something free of ornamentation or extraneous matter.
Field
To respond to or deal with
Fielded tough questions from the press.
Plain
Clearly; simply
Plain stubborn.
Field
(Sports) To place in the playing area
Field a team.
Plain
Flat, level.
Field
To nominate in an election
Field a candidate.
Plain
Simple, unaltered.
Field
To put into action; deploy
Field an army of campaign workers.
Plain
Ordinary; lacking adornment or ornamentation; unembellished.
He was dressed simply in plain black clothes.
A plain tune
Field
To enter (data) into a field.
Plain
Of just one colour; lacking a pattern.
A plain pink polycotton skirt
Field
To play as a fielder
How well can he field?.
Plain
Simple in habits or qualities; unsophisticated, not exceptional, ordinary.
They're just plain people like you or me.
Field
A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; an area of open country.
There are several species of wild flowers growing in this field.
Plain
(of food) Having only few ingredients, or no additional ingredients or seasonings; not elaborate, without toppings or extras.
Would you like a poppy bagel or a plain bagel?
Field
The open country near or belonging to a town or city.
Plain
(computing) Containing no extended or nonprinting characters (especially in plain text).
Field
A wide, open space that is used to grow crops or to hold farm animals, usually enclosed by a fence, hedge or other barrier.
There were some cows grazing in a field.
A crop circle was made in a corn field.
Plain
Obvious.
Field
(geology) A region containing a particular mineral.
An oil field; a gold field
Plain
Evident to one's senses or reason; manifest, clear, unmistakable.
Field
An airfield, airport or air base; especially, one with unpaved runways.
Plain
Downright; total, unmistakable (as intensifier).
His answer was just plain nonsense.
Field
A place where competitive matches are carried out.
Plain
Open.
Field
A place where a battle is fought; a battlefield.
Plain
Honest and without deception; candid, open; blunt.
Let me be plain with you: I don't like her.
Field
An area reserved for playing a game or race with one’s physical force.
Soccer field
Substitutes are only allowed onto the field after their boots are checked.
Plain
Clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
Field
A place where competitive matches are carried out with figures, or playing area in a board game or a computer game.
Plain
Not unusually beautiful; unattractive.
Throughout high school she worried that she had a rather plain face.
Field
A competitive situation, circumstances in which one faces conflicting moves of rivals.
Plain
(card games) Not a trump.
Field
(metonymically) All of the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or all except the favourites in the betting.
This racehorse is the strongest in a weak field.
Plain
(obsolete) Full, complete in number or extent.
Field
Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.
Plain
(colloquial) Simply.
It was just plain stupid.
I plain forgot.
Field
(physics) A physical phenomenon (such as force, potential or fluid velocity) that pervades a region; a mathematical model of such a phenomenon that associates each point and time with a scalar, vector or tensor quantity.
Magnetic field; gravitational field; scalar field
Plain
(archaic) Plainly; distinctly.
Tell me plain: do you love me or no?
Field
Any of certain structures serving cognition.
Plain
A lamentation.
Field
A physical or virtual location for the input of information in the form of symbols.
Plain
An expanse of land with relatively low relief, usually exclusive of forests, deserts, and wastelands.
Field
Part (usually one half) of a frame in an interlaced signal
Plain
(archaic) field in reference to a battlefield.
Field
To intercept or catch (a ball) and play it.
Plain
(obsolete) plane: a flat geometric field.
Field
To be the team catching and throwing the ball, as opposed to hitting it.
The blue team are fielding first, while the reds are batting.
Plain
To complain.
Field
To place a team, its players, etc. in a game.
The away team fielded two new players and the second-choice goalkeeper.
Plain
To lament, bewail.
To plain a loss
Field
(transitive) To answer; to address.
She will field questions immediately after her presentation.
Plain
To level; to raze; to make plain or even on the surface.
Field
(transitive) To defeat.
They fielded a fearsome army.
Plain
To make plain or manifest; to explain.
Field
(transitive) To execute research (in the field).
He fielded the marketing survey about the upcoming product.
Plain
To lament; to bewail; to complain.
We with piteous heart unto you pleyne.
Field
To deploy in the field.
To field a new land-mine detector
Plain
To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss.
Field
Cleared land; land suitable for tillage or pasture; cultivated ground; the open country.
Plain
To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface.
We would rake Europe rather, plain the East.
Field
A piece of land of considerable size; esp., a piece inclosed for tillage or pasture.
Fields which promise corn and wine.
Plain
To make plain or manifest; to explain.
What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech.
Field
A place where a battle is fought; also, the battle itself.
In this glorious and well-foughten field.
What though the field be lost?
Plain
Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane.
The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
Field
An open space; an extent; an expanse.
Without covering, save yon field of stars.
Ask of yonder argent fields above.
Plain
Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.
Our troops beat an army in plain fight.
Field
The whole surface of an escutcheon; also, so much of it is shown unconcealed by the different bearings upon it. See Illust. of Fess, where the field is represented as gules (red), while the fess is argent (silver).
Plain
Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable.
Field
An unresticted or favorable opportunity for action, operation, or achievement; province; room.
Afforded a clear field for moral experiments.
Plain
Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.
Field
A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the betting.
Plain
In a plain manner; plainly.
Field
That part of the grounds reserved for the players which is outside of the diamond; - called also outfield.
Plain
Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies.
Descending fro the mountain into playn.
Him the AmmoniteWorshiped in Rabba and her watery plain.
Field
To take the field.
Plain
A field of battle.
Lead forth my soldiers to the plain.
Field
To stand out in the field, ready to catch, stop, or throw the ball.
Plain
Extensive tract of level open land;
They emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain
He longed for the fields of his youth
Field
To catch, stop, throw, etc. (the ball), as a fielder.
Plain
A basic knitting stitch
Field
A piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed;
He planted a field of wheat
Plain
Express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness;
My mother complains all day
She has a lot to kick about
Field
A region where a battle is being (or has been) fought;
They made a tour of Civil War battlefields
Plain
Clearly apparent or obvious to the mind or senses;
The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields
Evident hostility
Manifest disapproval
Patent advantages
Made his meaning plain
It is plain that he is no reactionary
In plain view
Field
Somewhere (away from a studio or office or library or laboratory) where practical work is done or data is collected;
Anthropologists do much of their work in the field
Plain
Not elaborate or elaborated; simple;
Plain food
Stuck to the plain facts
A plain blue suit
A plain rectangular brick building
Field
A branch of knowledge;
In what discipline is his doctorate?
Teachers should be well trained in their subject
Anthropology is the study of human beings
Plain
Lacking patterns especially in color
Field
The space around a radiating body within which its electromagnetic oscillations can exert force on another similar body not in contact with it
Plain
Not mixed with extraneous elements;
Plain water
Sheer wine
Not an unmixed blessing
Field
A particular kind of commercial enterprise;
They are outstanding in their field
Plain
Free from any effort to soften to disguise;
The plain and unvarnished truth
The unvarnished candor of old people and children
Field
A particular environment or walk of life;
His social sphere is limited
It was a closed area of employment
He's out of my orbit
Plain
Lacking embellishment or ornamentation;
A plain hair style
Unembellished white walls
Functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
Field
A piece of land prepared for playing a game;
The home crowd cheered when Princeton took the field
Plain
Lacking stylistic embellishment;
A literal description
Wrote good but plain prose
A plain unadorned account of the coronation
A forthright unembellished style
Field
Extensive tract of level open land;
They emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain
He longed for the fields of his youth
Plain
Comprehensible to the general public;
Written for the popular press in plain nontechnical language
Field
(mathematics) a set of elements such that addition and multiplication are commutative and associative and multiplication is distributive over addition and there are two elements 0 and 1;
The set of all rational numbers is a field
Plain
Lacking in physical beauty or proportion;
A homely child
Several of the buildings were downright homely
A plain girl with a freckled face
Field
A region in which active military operations are in progress;
The army was in the field awaiting action
He served in the Vietnam theater for three years
Plain
Unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly');
The answer is obviously wrong
She was in bed and evidently in great pain
He was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list
It is all patently nonsense
She has apparently been living here for some time
I thought he owned the property, but apparently not
You are plainly wrong
He is plain stubborn
Field
All of the horses in a particular horse race
Field
All the competitors in a particular contest or sporting event
Field
A geographic region (land or sea) under which something valuable is found;
The diamond fields of South Africa
Field
(computer science) a set of one or more adjacent characters comprising a unit of information
Field
The area that is visible (as through an optical instrument)
Field
A place where planes take off and land
Field
Catch or pick up (balls) in baseball or cricket
Field
Play as a fielder
Field
Answer adequately or successfully;
The lawyer fielded all questions from the press
Field
Select (a team or individual player) for a game;
The Patriots fielded a young new quarterback for the Rose Bowl
Field
An open area of land used for cultivation.
The farmer planted corn in the field.
Common Curiosities
Can a plain contain several fields?
Yes, a plain can encompass multiple fields.
Can the word "field" refer to a profession?
Yes, "field" can refer to an area of study or expertise.
Are plains always devoid of trees?
Typically, plains are treeless, but occasional trees or shrubs might be present.
Does "plain" always refer to geography?
No, "plain" can also mean simple, clear, or obvious.
Can crops be grown on a plain?
Yes, plains can be cultivated, and crops can be grown.
Which is larger, a field or a plain?
Generally, a plain is larger than a field.
Is a soccer field an example of a plain?
No, a soccer field is an example of a field, not a plain.
Can fields have hills or small elevations?
Yes, fields can have slight elevations, but plains are generally flat.
Can a field be part of a park or recreational area?
Yes, fields can be parts of parks or recreational spaces.
Is a desert considered a plain?
While both are flat, a desert specifically has arid conditions. Not all plains are deserts.
Are plains always natural formations?
Mostly yes, but human activities can alter landscapes to resemble plains.
Does "plain" have a synonym?
Yes, synonyms include "clear", "simple", or "prairie" when referring to land.
Are fields always open spaces?
While often open, fields can be enclosed or bordered by fences, trees, or other barriers.
Can "field" refer to a mathematical or scientific concept?
Yes, terms like "magnetic field" or "field of vision" are examples.
What activities commonly occur in fields?
Activities like farming, sports, or festivals can occur in fields.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
