carp

[kahrp]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carp ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

to find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably; be niggling in criticizing; cavil: to carp at minor errors.

noun

a peevish complaint.

Origin of carp

1200–50; Middle English carpen to speak, prate < Old Norse karpa to brag, wrangle

Related formscarp·er, noun

Synonyms for carp

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carp ON THESAURUS.COM

1. criticize, deprecate, condemn, censure.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for carper

nag, quibbler, caviler, scold, nitpicker, niggler, nagger, caviller, faultfinder, criticizer, castigator

Examples from the Web for carper

Contemporary Examples of carper

“Part of our responsibility is to vet nominees, not to kill nominees, not to hold them forever,” Carper said.
Alejandro Mayorkas’s DHS Nomination Held Up Over IG Investigation
Josh Rogin
July 31, 2013
The IG office opened the investigation last September based on a referral from the FBI, but its progress is unclear, Carper said.
Alejandro Mayorkas’s DHS Nomination Held Up Over IG Investigation
Josh Rogin
July 31, 2013
Carper described Allen as a “very fine person” and said either Lute or Allen would be fine.
Lute, Allen Top Congressional Wish List for DHS
Josh Rogin
July 16, 2013
Carper said Lute would get through the Senate quickly and easily.
Lute, Allen Top Congressional Wish List for DHS
Josh Rogin
July 16, 2013
“I think Jane Holl Lute would be a terrific candidate, and I urge the president to consider her,” Carper said.
Lute, Allen Top Congressional Wish List for DHS
Josh Rogin
July 16, 2013

Historical Examples of carper

I damned every Carper into fiddlestrings from old Adam to old Columbus.
Dwellers in the Hills
Melville Davisson Post
There has never been an age that has not had its carper to tell you of the wonders that once were.
Pike & Cutlass
George Gibbs
A carper might have said that Eddy was the least bit vague on the subject of the dear old days.
The Man Upstairs
P. G. Wodehouse
But she was civil even as she sighed, and he would have been a carper who complained.
The President
Alfred Henry Lewis
After the Carper lease expired without renewal, the caretakers left.
Salona, Fairfax County, Virginia
Ellen Anderson

British Dictionary definitions for carper

carp

verb

(intr often foll by at) to complain or find fault; nag pettily

Derived Formscarper, noun

Word Origin for carp

C13: from Old Norse karpa to boast; related to Latin carpere to pluck

carp

noun plural carp or carps

a freshwater teleost food fish, Cyprinus carpio, having a body covered with cycloid scales, a naked head, one long dorsal fin, and two barbels on each side of the mouth: family Cyprinidae

any other fish of the family Cyprinidae; a cyprinid

Related formsRelated adjectives: cyprinid, cyprinoid

Word Origin for carp

C14: from Old French carpe, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German karpfo, Old Norse karfi

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for carper

mid-15c., "talker," agent noun from carp (v.).

carp

type of freshwater fish, late 14c., from Old French carpe "carp" (13c.) and directly from Vulgar Latin carpa (source also of Italian carpa, Spanish carpa), from a Germanic source (cf. Middle Dutch carpe, Dutch karper, Old High German karpfo, German Karpfen "carp"); possibly the immediate source is Gothic *karpa. A Danube fish (hence the proposed East Germanic origin of its name), introduced in English ponds 14c. Lithuanian karpis, Russian karp are Germanic loan words.

carp

"complain," early 13c., originally "to talk," from Old Norse karpa "to brag," of unknown origin; meaning turned toward "find fault with" (late 14c.), probably by influence of Latin carpere "to slander, revile," literally "to pluck" (see harvest (n.)). Related: Carped; carping.