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
1
as in complaining
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely
someone who carps and whines about everything is a pain
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of carping
Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic, 16 June 2018
Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 19 Sep. 2025
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
Adjective
-
Hillis Schild, executive director of the fund, said such projects meet critical community needs, but often struggle to secure traditional bank financing.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Nick Geller, managing director of Steadfast LA, highlighted the organization’s emphasis on protecting critical community infrastructure.—
Michelle Edgar,
Daily News,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
But the same town also was sued in November by Stillson LLC, a company complaining because zoners approved an 8-30g project.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
11 Jan. 2026
-
From bartenders in Virginia-Highland to servers in Alpharetta, several employees of food and drink businesses reported customers complaining about water that tastes like mildew.—
Sheeka Sanahori - For the AJC,
AJC.com,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
While Slot was moaning about having to play two away matches in four days (and about missing a couple of key players), Emery, also without important figures such as Boubacar Kamara, was overseeing his Villa side playing the same tough schedule and win both games without conceding a goal.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
-
While lying on the pavement, he could be heard moaning as an officer shouted at him not to move.—
Jose R. Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
13 Dec. 2025
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
Verb
-
Under the watchful eye of sheriffs deputies who threatened to ticket anyone caught standing in the road, along with a small number of National Guard members, the protesters took turns screaming swears and warming up in nearby parked cars.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
28 Jan. 2026
-
An exodus of prosecutors who didn’t care for his staff screaming sessions and boorish press conferences.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
As the migrants boarded, a man hoisted one of the passengers in the air, a fussing 8-month-old baby whose face was flushed red from the heat.—
Daniel Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
6 Nov. 2025
-
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
Verb
-
Some had noisy bearings, which could sound like a whining noise.—
John Paul,
The Providence Journal,
16 Jan. 2026
-
Illinois Republicans have turned whining into an artform.—
Paul Miller,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Jan. 2026
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
Cite this Entry
“Carping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/carping. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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