Meanings
comparative more complainingly · superlative most complainingly
- In a complaining manner; peevishly.
A voice answered from within: "tell him I cannot see anyone," it said, complainingly.
1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde1 more example
Tucking into rissoles of rice, bacon, and potatoes served up on fried bread, he said complainingly, "By ginger, Mudgy, you do go off the handle over nothing. I tell you straight, I was damned annoyed with you this afternoon, going pop like that at a man over nothing."
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 93
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbwith complaints
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
complainingly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complainingly
“complainingly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complainingly. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “complainingly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complainingly.
Source: complainingly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.