as in complaining
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely
hasn't stopped grousing since we started this vacation
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Recent Examples of grousing
For all of you grousing that the Broncos could have just drafted a player like Waddle, Payton has not developed his Nik Bonitto on offense as Vance Joseph has on defense.
—
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 18 Mar. 2026
In the movie’s first dramatic scene, achingly redolent of memory, the brothers—the older is eleven, the younger eight—loll in front of their family’s house, snacking, grousing, playing with paper action figures, trying to fill the solitude and the silence around them with banter and bravado.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026
Twin could hear her neighbors grousing but unable to swallow their anger and spit out her own.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Here, Lee gets at the crux of his self-satire, as well as the grousing anti-capitalism of Kurosawa’s original movie, in which the protagonist has also let business cloud his moral judgment.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 18 Mar. 2026
In the movie’s first dramatic scene, achingly redolent of memory, the brothers—the older is eleven, the younger eight—loll in front of their family’s house, snacking, grousing, playing with paper action figures, trying to fill the solitude and the silence around them with banter and bravado.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026
Twin could hear her neighbors grousing but unable to swallow their anger and spit out her own.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Here, Lee gets at the crux of his self-satire, as well as the grousing anti-capitalism of Kurosawa’s original movie, in which the protagonist has also let business cloud his moral judgment.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grousing
Verb
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This is why all the whining and complaining from small market teams across the sport is manipulative nonsense.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
17 Apr. 2026
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There was crying, complaining, dissociating and even laughing on those couches.—
Wendy C. Ortiz,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Brown voiced his frustrations with the Eagles’ passing offense during the regular season, then engaged in a screaming match with Sirianni during Philadelphia’s first-round playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
14 Apr. 2026
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Dashcam footage recently released by Staffordshire Police shows the teenagers screaming and asking Dawson, 50, to slow the car down.—
Adam England,
PEOPLE,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Zendaya's Rue thrives in her own weird little story, but Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) lacks a personality other than whining, Nate (Elordi) lacks a personality other than anger, and hyper-sexualized Maddie (Alexa Demie) lacks a personality other than blind ambition.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
9 Apr. 2026
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Get someone who spends more time trying to master the new model than whining about it.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Grousing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grousing. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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