kvetch
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of kvetch
1960–65, < Yiddish kvetshn literally, to squeeze, pinch; compare Middle High German, German quetschen
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.
“They signed on to extensive letters and virtue-signaling criticism. They held ‘unhappy hours’ at the building where most of them worked, to kvetch about the changes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
“People, and particularly women, tend to kvetch and converse and complain about what offends them, and then they vote according to what affects them,” she said.
From BBC • Sep. 7, 2024
It’s easy to kvetch about wearing long underwear to watch Little League games or donning a down jacket to work in the garden.
From Seattle Times • May 10, 2022
On what planet, industry insiders railed, does a Golden Globe-nominated TV writer kvetch — in print! — about the snubbing of a competing show?
From Washington Post • Aug. 2, 2021
I don’t know what kvetch means, but I think it must be good.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
