carping

American  

[kahr-ping] / ˈkɑr pɪŋ /

adjective

1. characterized by fussy or petulant faultfinding; querulous.

   carping criticism.

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noun

1. petty faultfinding.

ˈcarping British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪŋ /

adjective

1. tending to make petty complaints; fault-finding

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Other Word Forms

• carpingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of carping

1275–1325; Middle English (noun); carp ¹, -ing ², -ing ¹

Example Sentences

In Werde’s view, Swift’s place atop the pop hierarchy makes such carping inevitable.

From Los Angeles Times

Believe me, I’m completely aware that I sound like a Scrooge, a buzzkill harping and carping about innocuous movies that are meant to be little more than background noise while people scroll on their phones.

From Salon

Respectfully, the fans carping about coach DeShaun Foster after three games of a predictably difficult season are missing an essential point.

From Los Angeles Times

After enough of his students’ carping, however, Hayes decided to put the snakes to the test.

From Science Magazine

“A lot of discourse around it. A lot of carping back and forth. A lot of anger. A lot of commentary,” Stewart said.

From New York Times