as in to complain
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely
like many kids during summer vacation, they were caterwauling about the lack of things to do
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Recent Examples of caterwaul
Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor, 24 Mar. 2025
That said, Shelton’s lyrics are much more darkly relatable and heartbreaking than someone caterwauling about being their own worst enemy.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 21 June 2023
Until Ivey and the Department of Corrections can explain how the prison construction program caterwauled out of control, lawmakers should put the brakes on all state spending.
—Kyle Whitmire, al, 17 Mar. 2023
An ambulance caterwauled down Sunset Boulevard, which runs parallel one block below.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Oct. 2022
Republicans could caterwaul about the skyrocketing debt without actually having to do anything about it except express their disapproval. Getting most creative.
—Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, 29 Sep. 2021
In a season of a lively baseball, the Twins hit a silly number of home runs and came caterwauling out of the great north and took their division.
—Michael Powell, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2019
The media–Democrat caterwauling over Trump’s election-rigging spiel was not rooted in patriotic commitment to the American democratic tradition of accepting election outcomes.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 16 Aug. 2019
Media outlets that caterwaul about all this become the victims of commercial crises.
—The Economist, 21 June 2018
Verb
As a musician, Ono was known for singing in what has been described as a screechy, caterwauling voice, and many of her musical collaborations with Lennon were baffling to Beatles fans.
—Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor, 24 Mar. 2025
That said, Shelton’s lyrics are much more darkly relatable and heartbreaking than someone caterwauling about being their own worst enemy.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 21 June 2023
Until Ivey and the Department of Corrections can explain how the prison construction program caterwauled out of control, lawmakers should put the brakes on all state spending.
—Kyle Whitmire, al, 17 Mar. 2023
An ambulance caterwauled down Sunset Boulevard, which runs parallel one block below.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Oct. 2022
Republicans could caterwaul about the skyrocketing debt without actually having to do anything about it except express their disapproval. Getting most creative.
—Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, 29 Sep. 2021
In a season of a lively baseball, the Twins hit a silly number of home runs and came caterwauling out of the great north and took their division.
—Michael Powell, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2019
The media–Democrat caterwauling over Trump’s election-rigging spiel was not rooted in patriotic commitment to the American democratic tradition of accepting election outcomes.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 16 Aug. 2019
Media outlets that caterwaul about all this become the victims of commercial crises.
—The Economist, 21 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for caterwaul
Verb
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Cassidy also complained that a new primary system enacted last year confused voters by requiring them to ask for a partisan ballot instead of the all-party primary previously in place.—
Thomas Beaumont,
Fortune,
17 May 2026
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So, what Rodriguez and Cohen Higgins are complaining about is what happens four and five years or even ten years down the line.—
Jim DeFede,
CBS News,
17 May 2026
Noun
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On the floor, hundreds of people convulse to Blanco Teta’s ravenous yowls and monster-truck basslines off their July album La debacle de las divas.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
18 Feb. 2026
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Now fans can get a closer look at the man behind the pitch-perfect yowl, the pencil mustache and the flawless pompadour.—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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One morning in 2013, before the sun had risen, Hiba and Ibrahim heard gunshots and screams.—
Annie Hylton,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
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Also, there was an element of danger, and doing a scene that is really arduous, achieving an emotional peak for an amount of time and performing physical acts and screaming [about] a matter of life and death.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
13 May 2026
Noun
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Native to North America, eastern screech-owls are mostly gray, reddish-brown or brown with yellow eyes, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
9 Mar. 2026
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This causes a blast of high-energy radiation called a gamma-ray burst (GRB), a final screech of gravitational waves, and sends out a spray of neutron-rich matter, which allows a process to occur that generates very heavy but unstable elements.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Second, in a report of their own, the pro-business commissioners whined that all of this was unfair.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 May 2026
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Last week, the whining noise of unmanned flying objects could be heard in the city of Moscow once again.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
11 May 2026
Noun
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Yet masculinism also functions as a perpetual-motion machine of grievance, an inarticulate howl of anguish at the status quo—whatever that currently is.—
Helen Lewis,
The Atlantic,
14 May 2026
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The book is treated as confession, a howl of pain, its ‘anguish’ and ‘unflinching honesty’ much praised.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
Verb
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Coach Arne Slot moaned about VAR but his problems lie much closer to home.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
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The score by Joseph Bishara is shivery with chorales that moan like wraiths in the wind.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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He was missed — especially vocally — since Gill’s angelic voice does not, in any way shape or form, resemble Walsh’s charmingly out-of-pitch squawk-talk style.—
Jim Harrington,
Mercury News,
25 Jan. 2026
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Toy keyboard plinks and saxophone squawks spiral over a booming racket of drums in the ether, slyly threatening to collapse, like an elaborate plate-spinning act.—
H.D. Angel,
Pitchfork,
7 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Caterwaul.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/caterwaul. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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