grouch
/ɡraʊtʃ
/noun
1A habitually grumpy person: rock’s foremost poet and ill-mannered grouch...
- Consequently I now have a reputation as a sourpuss and a grouch.
- To a grouch, changes in a business environment are nothing more than bubbles.
- Some people talk about depressive realism, the idea that depressed people see reality better, but it occurred to me that maybe any success I'd had in life was in spite of being a grouch, not because of being a grouch, so I resolved to change.
Synonyms
grumbler, complainer, moaner, discontent, malcontent, fault-finder, carper;
grumpy person, miserable person, moper, pessimist, prophet of doom
informal grump, sourpuss, crosspatch, bear with a sore head, grouser, whinger, wet blanket, party pooper, doom merchant
British informal griper, misery
North American informal sorehead, kvetcher
1.1A trivial complaint: my only real grouch was that the children’s chorus was less easy on the ear...
- Indeed, the main grouch with him was not his decision to come out, but his decision to first deny it.
- Of course, no car is perfect, and I did have a couple of grouches with this one.
1.2A sulky or discontented mood: he’s in a thundering grouch
verb [no object]
Voice one’s discontent ill-temperedly; grumble: there’s not a lot to grouch about...
- Cultural exiles in a world they had created, disgruntled Hawks spent their most triumphant decade not basking in their new uncontested power but grouching about how America had gone ‘soft,’ become feminized.
- I can so understand that, and I wouldn't want to spoil any of the fun of that by participating in a grouchy thread, but I don't really think anyone's grouching.
- Even if we're headed in that direction and the progress is irritatingly sluggish, one shouldn't be grouching about it.
Synonyms
grumble, complain, grouse, moan, whine, bleat, carp, cavil, grieve, sigh
informal whinge, beef, bellyache, bitch, sound off, kick up a fuss, kick up a stink
British informal gripe, grizzle, chunter, create
North American informal kvetch
South African informal chirp
Origin
Late 19th century: variant of obsolete grutch, from Old French grouchier 'to grumble, murmur', of unknown origin. Compare with grudge.
The words grouch and grudge (Late Middle English) are variants of obsolete grutch, from Old French grouchier ‘to grumble, murmur’, of unknown origin. Early 19th-century grouse may be related.