whining

1 of 2

adjective

whin·​ing ˈ(h)wī-niŋ 

1

: producing or emitting a prolonged, high-pitched sound : producing a whine

a whining howl

… a coil of steel spins through a whining mass of machinery the size of a small two-story house.

—Edward D. Welles

The fresh wind across the big lake blew away the smoke of cooking fires and vanquished the mosquitoes that came out in whining droves …

—Louise Erdrich

2

: complaining or inclined to complain in a childish or petulant manner

They [scientists] think that … joyful people outlive their bilious, whining counterparts.

—Natalie Angier

Brooks plays a whining, middle-aged screenwriter …

—Leah Rozen

whiningly

ˈ(h)wī-niŋ-lē 

adverb

whining

2 of 2

noun

1

: the act or an instance of producing a prolonged, high-pitched sound (such as a cry of distress or pain)

the whining of a dog

… that night she heard a whining and scratching at her door, and when she opened it the lame puppy, drenched and shivering, jumped up on her with little sobbing barks.

—Edith Wharton

2

: the act or activity of complaining in an annoyingly childish or petulant manner

Mom hates whining.

—Ruth Kelley

… but his public whining ("I'm sick and tired of it") didn't do him much good …

—Elizabeth Drew

But "people have begun to come out of that—they're tired of the whining," [J. Walker] Smith says.

—Leslie Miller

Examples of whining in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Anticipate and Remind There's no reason to wait for the whining to happen. —Debby Waldman, Parents, 29 Apr. 2025

Ultimately, Janice tells Ross that his whining is too much and ditches him. —Victoria Edel, People.com, 14 Apr. 2025

But allowing the whining of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and other SEC propagandists about the performances of teams like SMU and Indiana to hijack the conversation during the opening rounds of the Playoff this past season was not great for college football. —Ralph D. Russo, The Athletic, 21 Feb. 2025

As the Dodgers officially welcomed their latest gazillionaire pitcher to a remodeling Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, the churning of the bulldozers in the infield was momentarily drowned out by the whining around the baseball world. —Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1586, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for whining

• dining
• fining
• lining
• mining
• pining
• seining
• shining
• signing
• twining
• vining
• aligning
• assigning