grum·ble

(grŭm′bəl)

v. grum·bled, grum·bling, grum·bles

v.intr.

1. To complain in a surly manner; mutter discontentedly: "The governed will always find something to grumble about" (Crane Brinton).

2. To rumble or growl.

v.tr.

To express in a grumbling discontented manner: grumbled a rude response.

1. A muttered complaint.

2. A rumble; a growl.

[Probably Dutch grommelen, to mutter, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of grommen.]

grum′bler n.

grum′bling·ly adv.

grum′bly adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

grumbler - a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining

moaner, sniveller, squawker, whiner, bellyacher, complainer, crybaby

disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable

kvetch - (Yiddish) a constant complainer

grumbler

noun

A person who habitually complains or grumbles:

complainer, crab, faultfinder, grouch, growler, grump, murmurer, mutterer, whiner.

Informal: crank, griper, grouser.

Slang: bellyacher, sorehead, sourpuss.

Translations

Brummbär

brontolone

ворчунья

grumbler

n → Nörgler(in) m(f), → Brummbär m (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The most inveterate croaker and grumbler in the world--and yet, according to his own account, the only cheerful man in the whole ship's company.

View in context

'Hear this discontented grumbler. Isn't it enough to make a man swear never to help him in his plots and schemes again?

View in context

Tamoszius was simply another of the grumblers. He was a man who spent all his time fiddling; and he would go to parties at night and not get home till sunrise, and so of course he did not feel like work.

View in context

I don't say it is for this that they exist--for I am a child among you worldly grumblers, and not called upon to account to you or myself for anything--but it may be so.'"

View in context

Reports say Mr Grigoriyev rescued the bear, named Vorchun or Grumbler, four years ago, along with another cub.

Bear kills and eats Russian hunter who kept wild animal in cage at his home; The skeletal remains of Sergey Grigoriyev were found next to one of is dogs which was also killed and eaten by the bear in Ozersk, Russia

Two things I know for sure: A grumbler is a miserable person, and a miserable companion!

Complaints and complainers

Broadway is winning" Little Britain star Matt Lucas "If I hear one more person use the event (the floods) as a basis for complaining about overseas aid, I shall take the grumbler by the scruff of the neck and deposit him or her in an Ethiopian slum" Former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe "Narration interests me because it is what I have spent my life doing.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

"If I hear one more person use the event (the floods) as a basis for complaining about overseas aid I shall take the grumbler by the scruff of the neck and deposit him or her in an Ethiopian slum" - Former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe.

THEY SAY

could be a grumbler of the sort who say that mankind feeds on what is

Eschatological

Where is the rising generation?" The grumbler sitting behind me at the conference on "Jews and the Left," sponsored by YIVO last week at the Center for Jewish History in New York, was not exactly being fair.

The End of the Jewish Left

IT'S not often that a manager extends a welcome to a moaner, but Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray is delighted to have Aussie grumbler Scott McDonald back.

Boro boss Mowbray so happy moaner is back

My closest reporter friends cautioned me against becoming a grumbler."

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