whiny

adjective

ˈ(h)wī-nē 

variants or less commonly whiney

whinier; whiniest

: characterized by whining:

a

: having a high-pitched, shrill or plaintive quality

a whiny voice

"So What'cha Want," despite its jittery organ, whiny guitar, and distorted vocals, turned out to be one of the least predictable-sounding hit singles of recent years.

—Alan Light

b

: characterized by or given to complaining

whiny children

Their whiny, even beggarly tone was hardly the supremely confident sound of the American Century.

—Sidney Blumenthal

… offering little more than a whiny list of grievances …

—Linda Chavez

In this conversational memoir, Nancy comes across as honest, if a little whiny, and a major-league worrier.

—Ilene Cooper

whininess noun

A few years ago, thirtysomething was widely reviled for encouraging the yuppie ethos of materialism and whininess.

—Mark Harris

… I heard something, a certain whininess in his voice, maybe, that led me to conclude that I wasn't about to get a pasting …

—Nick Hornby

Examples of whiny in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When Lost writers decided to bring two of the also-crasheds to the forefront, no one could have predicted how grating the pair's whiny inanity would become. —Marc Snetiker, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Oct. 2025

That’s upset some fans, especially the kind of whiny babies who never like anything. —Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 25 July 2025

Daniels is morose and whiny and Reynolds is hammy and over-the-top, which allows Stone to steal the movie, giving it its only modicum of zest and soul. —Tim Grierson, Vulture, 23 July 2025

The response was Pavlovian, the practice ingrained in her by her own mother, who spent much of her time pacifying her insecure and whiny husband. —Literary Hub, 9 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1746, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for whiny

• briny
• piney
• shiny
• spiny
• tiny
• consignee
• sunshiny