carping

adjective

carp·​ing ˈkär-piŋ 

: marked by or inclined to querulous and often perverse criticism

carpingly

ˈkär-piŋ-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• critical
• captious

Choose the Right Synonym for carping

critical, hypercritical, faultfinding, captious, carping, censorious mean inclined to look for and point out faults and defects.

critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly.

a critical essay

hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards.

hypercritical disparagement of other people's work

faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament.

a faultfinding reviewer

captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.

a captious critic

carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.

a carping editorial

censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory.

the censorious tone of the review

Examples of carping in a Sentence

a peevish and carping old woman who is not a favorite at the nursing home

Recent Examples on the Web

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

Word History

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for carping

• harping