plain text

British

noun

telecomm a message set in a directly readable form rather than in coded groups

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"The scrambled plain text was found, but without the coding method or the key. This is a very important distinction," he separately told a news conference in November.

From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025

What we have here is a classic dispute over textualism, the theory that judges should look exclusively to the plain text of the statute to discover its meaning.

From Slate • Jun. 23, 2025

"Turns out that jokes are way less funny if people don't know the context and the delivery is in plain text," a subsequent post read.

From BBC • Sep. 16, 2024

"Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text," he added.

From Salon • Sep. 16, 2024

Again, ZIPped is better, since it avoids certain damage that can happen to a plain text e-mail along the way.

From The Project Gutenberg FAQ 2002 by Tinsley, Jim

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023