carping
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of carping
1275–1325; Middle English (noun); see carp 1, -ing 2, -ing 1
Explanation
Carping is petty and unjustified criticism that just won’t stop. People who find fault with you at every turn, who appreciate nothing and complain, complain, complain, are carping. Enough already! Your annoying aunt Mildred who constantly picks on you, listing all the things she thinks are wrong about the way you dress, the style of your hair, who you’re dating, and where you’re working? She’s carping. Carping can also be used as an adjective, to describe someone who is overly critical and impossible to please — like that carping food critic who ruined the debut of your new restaurant.
Vocabulary lists containing carping
Much Ado About Nothing
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East of Eden
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Ophelia
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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.
These interventions can irk the grassroots, and there will be some carping over the Daines move.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026
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 • Dec. 21, 2024
After enough of his students’ carping, however, Hayes decided to put the snakes to the test.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 3, 2024
“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 • Feb. 27, 2024
Before those who now, for the sake of the Savage, paid their court to him, Bernard would parade a carping unorthodoxy.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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.
