COMPLAIN • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Complain

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/kəmplˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Complain v. t. To lament; to bewail. (Obs.) "They might the grievance inwardly complain." "By chaste Lucrece's soul that late complain'd Her wrongs to us."

Complain v. i. (past & past part. complained; pres. part. complaining)

To give utterance to expression of grief, pain, censure, regret. etc.; to lament; to murmur; to find fault; commonly used with of. Also, to creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel. "O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!"

To make a formal accusation; to make a charge. "Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain of me to the king?"

Synonyms: To repine; grumble; deplore; bewail; grieve; mourn; regret; murmur.

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Etymology of 'Complain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Complain" Quotes from Famous Books

... a tedious fool: to the purpose. What was done to Elbow's wife, that he hath cause to complain of? Come me to ...

— Measure for Measure - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] • William Shakespeare

... wearing toil; that the limit of endurance was consulted in the temperature of the room, and her need of rest in an occasional holiday,—perhaps, after all, in the mood she was in, did not make this factory life more easy. She would have found it rather a relief to have somebody to complain of,—wherein she was like the ...

— Men, Women, and Ghosts • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

... to Grace. True she had noted on several occasions that Miss Wilder looked very pale and tired. She was considerably thinner, too, than when Grace had entered college as a freshman, yet she had always given out the impression of tireless energy. Grace had never heard her complain of ill health, yet here she was, threatened with a nervous breakdown. The only remedy, a complete rest. As soon as her successor had been appointed she would start for an extended western trip in search of health, which only time, the open air and rest could restore. At the older woman's ...

— Grace Harlowe's Problem • Jessie Graham Flower

... adventure, and successful cultivation of the arts of peace and industry; he must have felt somewhat like Cassandra among the less gifted. If we could look on life, as our successors will two hundred years hence, we too might complain of being "lone in the city of the blind;" unless large Hope and Benevolence enabled us to live on the future. Thus we find additional motive to desiring a united and absolute, rather than an individual and relative progress, in the consideration that knowledge most worthily ...

— The Growth of Thought - As Affecting the Progress of Society • William Withington

... Stephen De Lancey, the inspector of the Loyalists, referring to 'the uniform discontent of the Loyalists at Machiche.' The discontent, he explains, is excited by a few ill-disposed persons. 'The sickness they complain of has been common throughout the province, and should have lessened rather than increased the consumption of provisions.' A Loyalist who writes to the governor, putting his complaints on paper, is assured that 'His Excellency is anxious to do everything in his power for the Loyalists, ...

— The United Empire Loyalists - A Chronicle of the Great Migration - Volume 13 (of 32) in the series Chronicles of Canada • W. Stewart Wallace

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