crybaby
Americannoun
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a person, especially a child, who cries readily for very little reason.
-
a person who complains too much, usually in a whining manner.
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crybaby
Explanation
A crybaby is someone who cries very easily and complains a lot. If you have a younger sister, you've probably called her a crybaby from time to time. You might be tempted to call someone whose feelings are very easily hurt, who is extremely sensitive and quick to burst into tears, a crybaby. It's a fairly derogatory term, however, and being called a crybaby will only make a crybaby cry even harder. The word dates from around 1850, and it's native to the United States, from the idea that someone "cries like a baby."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Maybe I'm a crybaby, but you make a movie and you like it, you feel like it's not seen enough.
From Salon ● Dec. 12, 2023
My ad would assert that I’m stupid with money, bad at decision-making and a crybaby to boot — all endorsed by yours truly.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2022
“This letter is so pathetic in terms of whining: Mr. Free Speech Absolutist, just a crybaby hiding behind his lawyers,” O’Dowd said in an interview.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2022
“This letter is so pathetic in terms of whining: Mr. Free Speech Absolutist, just a crybaby hiding behind his lawyers,” Mr. O’Dowd told The Washington Post.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 25, 2022
Eleanor had always been a really smart girl—a little bit of a crybaby back then, but nice.
From "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
It's also because it's the car of crybabies.
From Salon ● May 30, 2025
Personally, I think most of us sound like spoiled crybabies on gas prices.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2022
The time for tolerating the selfish crybabies may be coming to an end.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2021
And yet it’s hard for me not to anthropomorphize these platforms, looking around at all the crybabies whining that they don’t treat every single user exactly the same in every situation, and collapsing in frustration.
From The Verge ● Jul. 12, 2019
The glory of elfdom shall not be dimmed by the whining of a few crybabies.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
I am not crybabying to the Judge or making any kick about things.
From The Virginian, a Horseman of the Plains by Wister, Owen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
