carping 1 of 2

adjective

ˈkär-piŋ How to pronounce carping (audio)
Definition of carpingnext
as in critical
given to making or expressing unfavorable judgments about things a peevish and carping old woman who is not a favorite at the nursing home

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

carping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of carp
1
as in complaining
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely someone who carps and whines about everything is a pain

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in moaning
to make often peevish criticisms or objections about matters that are minor, unimportant, or irrelevant carped about the order of names on the wedding invitations

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective carping contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of carping are captious, censorious, critical, faultfinding, and hypercritical. While all these words mean "inclined to look for and point out faults and defects," carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.

a carping editorial

When could captious be used to replace carping?

The words captious and carping are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.

a captious critic

When might censorious be a better fit than carping?

While the synonyms censorious and carping are close in meaning, censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory.

the censorious tone of the review

When would critical be a good substitute for carping?

While in some cases nearly identical to carping, critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly.

a critical essay

When is it sensible to use faultfinding instead of carping?

In some situations, the words faultfinding and carping are roughly equivalent. However, faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament.

a faultfinding reviewer

When can hypercritical be used instead of carping?

The meanings of hypercritical and carping largely overlap; however, hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards.

hypercritical disparagement of other people's work

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of carping
Adjective
But the novel as a whole suggests that Clinton is all too well acquainted with resentment against carping critics and burdensome bureaucracies. —Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic, 16 June 2018
Verb
Should the pattern hold true throughout the long march to the Super Bowl, nobody’s going to be carping about the official headcount. —Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for carping
  1. critical
  2. complaining
  3. moaning
  4. captious
  5. screaming
  6. fussing
  7. whining
  8. quibbling
Adjective
  • As in 2025, the US played a critical role in this first occupation—but in a very different way.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
  • China has agreed to allow the export of chips critical to auto production, averting widespread shutdowns that had been predicted by the industry.
    — Chris Isidore, CNN Money, 3 Nov. 2025
Definition of critical
Verb
  • Dani has fallen asleep, though only after complaining vociferously about the light.
    — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Lyons said store owners had been complaining about the retail for some time.
    — Luke Barr, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2025
Definition of complaining
Verb
  • There’s something moaning in the background.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The deputies ultimately roll him over before putting on handcuffs as Mull can be heard moaning in pain.
    — Nathaniel Percy, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
Definition of moaning
Adjective
  • So much of the new sobriety flex is anathema to the captious alcoholics of 12-step groups.
    — Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 19 Apr. 2022
  • That a right-wing party traditionally captious about American patriotism did not react heatedly to evidence of Russian interference in US elections is bizarre.
    — Darryl Pinckney, The New York Review of Books, 5 Nov. 2020
Definition of captious
Verb
  • Agents appear to fight off a screaming crowd trying to help the man by pushing them away and threatening them with pepper spray.
    — Zoe Sottile, CNN Money, 3 Nov. 2025
  • There’s nothing like stepping onto the ice with thousands of screaming school children on top of you after an early-morning bus ride to play in an early-morning game to remind you’re in the AHL rather than the NHL.
    — Scott Powers, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Definition of screaming
Verb
  • With five blades sandwiched between two moisturizing bars, this razor speeds up the entire process (no fussing around with shaving cream), nourishing dry skin and making nicks a rare occurrence.
    — Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025
  • This was the mid 1980s and tandem skydiving hadn’t been popularized yet, so his father, Roger, adjusted accordingly by stuffing carpet padding into the leg pads to stop him from fussing.
    — Angelina Liu, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Definition of fussing
Verb
  • Chip heeled tight to my left, his ears laid back, whining softly.
    — Joel M. Vance, Outdoor Life, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Marcus poked out his bottom lip, but no whining this time.
    — Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
Definition of whining
Verb
  • Joy Randolph and John Early, as the two Afterlife Coordinators, have a quibbling charisma, but the movie should have done more with all its possible versions of paradise, figuring out how to use them comedically instead of just as easy punchlines.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Sep. 2025
  • When the murder of 100,000 people, many of them women and children, is mentioned or denounced, or when someone dares to use terms such as genocide, ethnocide, ethnic cleansing or similar, most people choose to take issue with the characterization, quibbling over semantics.
    — Uriel Kon September 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
Definition of quibbling

Browse Nearby Words

carpets
carping
carping (at)
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Cite this Entry

“Carping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/carping. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.

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