complainant

plural complainants · alternative complainaunt

1. One who makes complaint, one who complains.

   1708-1714 Jeremy Collier, Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain Eager complainants […] in the dispute.

   3 more examples

   Heading the complainants is Sir Edward le Breton, Lord of the Manor of Loders, and a member of Bridport Rural Council.

   1959 December 28, “Din from Diesels in Dorset”, in Railway Magazine, page 866

   The Southern Region takes, in the main, a candid line with its public. [...] An ill-informed attempt to blackguard the railway publicly is likely to see the complainant put politely—but very firmly—in his place.

   1962 August, “Let's have plain speaking”, in Modern Railways, page 73

   It's hard for Americans to understand the patriotism that can get bound up in place-names. We're a young country. We're also accustomed, in our cockeyed cowboy fashion, to everything else revolving around us, so we can afford to let slide the fact that, say, the Gulf of Mexico isn't called the Gulf of America. (Although, according to John Hébert, that is the pet issue of one frequent complainant to the Board on Geographic Names.)

   2011, Ken Jennings, “Benchmarks”, in Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, Scribner, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 72

2. lawThe party that brings a civil lawsuit against another; the plaintiff.

   Synonyms: claimant

3. lawAn alleged victim in a criminal investigation or trial.

   Synonyms: plaintiff