to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault: He complained constantly about the noise in the corridor.
to tell of one's pains, ailments, etc.: to complain of a backache.
to make a formal accusation:If you think you've been swindled, complain to the police.
Origin of complain
1350–1400; Middle English compleinen<Anglo-French compleign-, stem of compleindre,Old French complaindre<Vulgar Latin *complangere, equivalent to Latin com-com- + plangere to lament; see plaint
ANTONYMS FOR complain
1 rejoice.
SEE ANTONYMS FOR complain ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for complain
1. Complain,grumble,growl,whine are terms for expressing dissatisfaction or discomfort. To complain is to protest against or lament a wrong: to complain about high prices. To grumble is to utter ill-natured complaints half to oneself: to grumble about the service.Growl may express more anger than grumble : to growl in reply to a question.To whine is to complain in a meanspirited way, using a nasal tone: to whine like a coward, like a spoiled child.
But, I mean, I’m part of a Facebook group for my class, and a lot of Wesleyan upperclassmen have been complaining about kids, like freshmen, going around asking for parties.
Even the most cautious schools are seeing outbreaks|Sy Mukherjee|September 17, 2020|Fortune
As the city takes steps to repeal a 102-year-old law banning seditious language, new details about how police wielded the law paint a picture of random harassment and punishment for those who complained.
Those Ticketed for Seditious Language Say Their Only Crime Was Talking Back|Kate Nucci|September 9, 2020|Voice of San Diego
Developers complain that titles waiting for App Store review sometimes take weeks to be cleared.
Apple’s App Store draws scrutiny in yet another country|Verne Kopytoff|September 3, 2020|Fortune
It is pure metaphysics, he complains, that has lost contact with empirical reality.
Your Guide to the Many Meanings of Quantum Mechanics - Facts So Romantic|Sabine Hossenfelder|September 3, 2020|Nautilus
The venerable Bill Thurston was known to complain about the perversity which, by the end of his career, had produced Thurston’s theorem, which says that Thurston maps are Thurston-equivalent to polynomials, unless they have Thurston obstructions.
Why Mathematicians Should Stop Naming Things After Each Other - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Laura Ball|September 2, 2020|Nautilus
And it might be what Islamists complain about while sitting in their caves.
Why We Stand With Charlie Hebdo—And You Should Too|John Avlon|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I could complain about how, two out of eight episodes in, Agent Carter is in no hurry to introduce its real villain.
Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’ Stomps on the Patriarchy|Melissa Leon|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
When they complain that there is no future for them here,” she confides after a long pause, “I worry they are right.
Lebanese Christians Gun Up Against ISIS|Susannah George|November 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“His wife went for the visit and suddenly started to complain about the cuts,” Guadalupe told The Daily Beast.
Did Joran Van Der Sloot Fake His Prison Shanking?|Andrea Zarate, Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Those that dared to complain were punished with bad shifts, demoted, or even fired.
Waitressing Is One of the Worst Jobs for Sexual Harassment|Brandy Zadrozny|October 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I'd radiate like mad; I'd complain about the situation at every crossroad, at every filling station, before every farmer.
Highways in Hiding|George Oliver Smith
People say we are very noisy at such times, and complain a good deal.
Birds Illustrated by Color Photography [December, 1897], Vol 2. No 6.|Various
Once she began to complain to him that Pani Bigiel would not give her red wine.
Children of the Soil|Henryk Sienkiewicz
But I have made it a condition that she is to go at once, if I find reason to complain of her.
The Woman in White|Wilkie Collins
And of whom can you complain, you who accelerated your own death?
The Visions of Quevedo|Dom Francisco de Quevedo
British Dictionary definitions for complain
complain
/ (kəmˈpleɪn) /
verb(intr)
to express resentment, displeasure, etc, esp habitually; grumble
(foll by of)to state the presence of pain, illness, etc, esp in the hope of sympathyshe complained of a headache
Derived forms of complain
complainer, nouncomplainingly, adverb
Word Origin for complain
C14: from Old French complaindre, from Vulgar Latin complangere (unattested), from Latin com- (intensive) + plangere to bewail