complain
/kəmˈpleɪn
/verb
1 [reporting verb] Express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something: [with clause]: local authorities complained that they lacked sufficient resources [with direct speech]: ‘You never listen to me,’ Larry complained [no object]: we all complained bitterly about the food...
- She said local people had complained bitterly about the lack of notice for the plan to extend the deadline by a year.
- Mrs Owen complained to an attendant but was dissatisfied with the response.
- He complained to the local authority about the noises and smells from his neighbour's farm.
Synonyms
protest, grumble, moan, whine, bleat, carp, cavil, lodge a complaint, make a complaint, make a fuss;
object to, speak out against, rail at, oppose, lament, bewail;
criticize, find fault with, run down, inveigh against
informal whinge, kick up a fuss, kick up a stink, bellyache, beef, grouch, grouse, bitch, sound off, go on about, pick holes in
British informal gripe, grizzle, chunter, create, be on at someone
Northern English informal mither
North American informal kvetch
South African informal chirp
British dated crib, natter
archaic plain over
1.1 [no object] (Of a structure or mechanism) groan or creak under strain.I yelled while the muscles on my body were complaining with great strain....
- As if to torment them further, the steps creaked, complaining with each step they made loud enough to wake the dead.
- After two years of being asked to do nothing more than growl and yip, my voice-box complained at the strain of speech.
1.2 [no object] literary Make a mournful sound: let the warbling flute complain
2 [no object] (complain of) State that one is suffering from (a pain or other symptom of illness): her husband began to complain of headaches...
- She suffered a cut to her ankle and also complained of a whiplash-like pain.
- So, when a child complains of back pain, one has to act fast and go for a thorough investigation.
- With no real operation having taken place, the patient does not feel any pain, complains of no scars, and can walk home immediately afterwards.
Derivatives
complainer
/ noun ...- It merely brands you as the department's top grumbler, grouch and complainer.
- How do you handle persistent complainers or moaners effectively?
- It seems that it is the complainers and grumblers who express their opinions.
complainingly
- We are accustomed to governments not doing what we elect them to do, so we carry on uncomplainingly (or complainingly in my case) without demanding answers from our elected representative.
- The rich moved complainingly into well-fortified hotels, and the police and firemen helped themselves to the contents of bombed or abandoned homes.
- She is calling attention to her clothes, complainingly.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French complaindre, from medieval Latin complangere 'bewail', from Latin com- (expressing intensive force) + plangere 'to lament'.
plaintive from Late Middle English:
Plaintive comes via Old French plainte ‘lamentation’, from Latin plangere ‘to beat, lament’. The legal plaintiff (Late Middle English) is the same word used as a noun. Plangere also gives us Late Middle English complain (the com- being emphatic), and plangent (early 19th century).