COMPLAINT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does complaint mean? 

• COMPLAINT (noun)
  The noun COMPLAINT has 5 senses:

1. an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining

2. (formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow

3. an expression of grievance or resentment

4. (civil law) the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim for relief is based

5. (criminal law) a pleading describing some wrong or offense

  Familiarity information: COMPLAINT used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMPLAINT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

ailment; complaint; ill

Hypernyms ("complaint" is a kind of...):

disorder; upset (a physical condition in which there is a disturbance of normal functioning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complaint"):

pip (a minor nonspecific ailment)

kinetosis; motion sickness (the state of being dizzy or nauseated because of the motions that occur while traveling in or on a moving vehicle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("complaint" is a kind of...):

cry; yell (a loud utterance of emotion (especially when inarticulate))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complaint"):

exclamation (a loud complaint or protest or reproach)

lament; lamentation; plaint; wail (a cry of sorrow and grief)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An expression of grievance or resentment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("complaint" is a kind of...):

objection (the speech act of objecting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complaint"):

grievance (a complaint about a (real or imaginary) wrong that causes resentment and is grounds for action)

grumble; grumbling; murmur; murmuring; mutter; muttering (a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone)

jeremiad (a long and mournful complaint)

kvetch ((Yiddish) a nagging complaint)

pet peeve (an opportunity for complaint that is seldom missed)

whimper; whine (a complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way)

Derivation:

complain (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(civil law) the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim for relief is based

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("complaint" is a kind of...):

pleading ((law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding)

Domain category:

civil law (the body of laws established by a state or nation for its own regulation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complaint"):

libel (the written statement of a plaintiff explaining the cause of action (the defamation) and any relief he seeks)

Derivation:

complain (make a formal accusation; bring a formal charge)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(criminal law) a pleading describing some wrong or offense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

charge; complaint

Context example:

he was arrested on a charge of larceny

Hypernyms ("complaint" is a kind of...):

pleading ((law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding)

Domain category:

criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complaint"):

accusal; accusation (a formal charge of wrongdoing brought against a person; the act of imputing blame or guilt)

Holonyms ("complaint" is a part of...):

bill of indictment; indictment (a formal document written for a prosecuting attorney charging a person with some offense)

Derivation:

complain (make a formal accusation; bring a formal charge)

 Context examples 

The results might provide a first step early in life in identifying possible risk factors for future pain complaints.

(Study in Teens Shows Brain Responses to Rewards Linked to Pain Sensitivity, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The fever was subdued; the fever had been his complaint; of course he would soon be well again.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You’ve worked long and hard without complaint, even when the road was strewn with sharp rocks and obstacles at every turn.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any further.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But as my aunt had swathed me up, I made no complaint of being inconvenienced.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Bitter fennel fruit oil can be used as treatment for digestive complaints.

(Bitter Fennel Fruit Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

The more he studied, the more vistas he caught of fields of knowledge yet unexplored, and the regret that days were only twenty-four hours long became a chronic complaint with him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It is a very easy complaint to imitate.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“My work is done well. The mate knows that, and you know it, sir. So there cannot be any complaint.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)