whinge

verb

ˈ(h)winj

whinged; whinging or whingeing

Synonyms of whinge next

intransitive verb

British

: to complain fretfully : whine

whinge noun British

Did you know?

Whinge isn't a simple spelling variant of whine. Whinge and whine are actually entirely different words with separate histories. Whine traces to an Old English verb, hwinan, which means "to make a humming or whirring sound." When hwinan became whinen in Middle English, it meant "to wail distressfully"; whine didn't acquire its "complain" sense until the 16th century. Whinge, on the other hand, comes from a different Old English verb, hwinsian, which means "to wail or moan discontentedly." Whinge retains that original sense today, though nowadays it puts less emphasis on the sound of the complaining and more on the discontentment behind the complaint.

Examples of whinge in a Sentence

Quit whinging and get on with the job. People were whinging about the lack of service.

Recent Examples on the Web In an interview on Fox News, Trump’s reliable friend and promoter Sean Hannity offered the former President a chance to dismiss the growing public alarm over his dictatorial aspirations as just so much whinging by the liberal media. —

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2023 There is plenty of whinging going on here, but both Goop and the cruise ship industry feel like fair targets, and Oyler’s dry humor still manages to lift this piece up. —

Carolyn Wells, Longreads, 19 Apr. 2023 Toddlers scream, children whinge and teenagers complain. —

Emma Baty, Redbook, 23 May 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whinge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.