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.

Nearby words

Origin of carp

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

SYNONYMS FOR carp

1. criticize, deprecate, condemn, censure.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carp ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formscarp·er, noun

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Carper said Lute would get through the Senate quickly and easily.
Lute, Allen Top Congressional Wish List for DHS|Josh Rogin|July 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST

“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|DAILY BEAST
But she was civil even as she sighed, and he would have been a carper who complained.
The President|Alfred Henry Lewis
Carper's four patterns of knowing serve as an organizing framework for asking epistemological questions of caring in nursing.
Nursing as Caring|Anne Boykin
Carper's patterns of knowing offer a framework for organizing the content for studying this nursing situation.
Nursing as Caring|Anne Boykin
After the Carper lease expired without renewal, the caretakers left.
Salona, Fairfax County, Virginia|Ellen Anderson
Any carper can find the faults in a great work; it is only the enlightened who can discover all its merits.
Talks on the study of literature.|Arlo Bates

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

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.

carp

verb (used without object)

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of carp

Examples from the Web for carper

carp

verb

Word Origin for carp

carp

noun plural carp or carps

Word Origin for carp

carper

carp

carp