gripe
Americanverb (used without object)
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gripes,
present (3rd person singular)
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griped,
past participle, past
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griping
present participle
verb (used with object)
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gripes,
present (3rd person singular)
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griped,
past participle, past
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griping
present participle
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Informal. to annoy or irritate.
His tone of voice gripes me.
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to produce pain in (the bowels) as if by constriction.
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to distress, afflict, or oppress.
poverty that gripes and pinches us.
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Nautical. to secure (a lifeboat) to a deck or against a pudding boom on davits.
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Archaic.
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to seize and hold firmly with the hand, claws, etc.; grasp; clutch.
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to greedily take possession of and hold tightly.
The miser gripes his money for fear of losing it.
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noun
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gripes
plural
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Informal. a nagging complaint.
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Pathology. Usually gripes. an intermittent spasmodic pain in the bowels.
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something that grips or clutches; a claw or grip.
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Nautical.
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a lashing or chain by which a boat is secured to a deck or in position on davits.
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Also called gripe piece. a curved timber connecting the stem or cutwater of a wooden hull with the keel.
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the exterior angle or curve formed by this piece; forefoot.
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the forward end of the dished keel of a metal hull.
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Archaic.
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the act of gripping, grasping, or clutching.
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a firm hold; clutch.
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mastery; hold; control.
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Rare. a handle, hilt, etc.
verb
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informal (intr) to complain, esp in a persistent nagging manner
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to cause sudden intense pain in the intestines of (a person) or (of a person) to experience this pain
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(intr) nautical (of a ship) to tend to come up into the wind in spite of the helm
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archaic to clutch; grasp
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archaic (tr) to afflict
noun
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(usually plural) a sudden intense pain in the intestines; colic
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informal a complaint or grievance
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rare
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the act of gripping
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a firm grip
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a device that grips
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(in plural) nautical the lashings that secure a boat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gripesimple
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gripessimple
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have gripedperfect
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has gripedperfect
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am gripingprogressive
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are gripingprogressive
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is gripingprogressive
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have been gripingperfect progressive
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has been gripingperfect progressive
Past
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gripedsimple
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had gripedperfect
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was gripingprogressive
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were gripingprogressive
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had been gripingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gripe
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gripen, Old English grīpan; cognate with Dutch grijpen, German griefen; see grip, grope
Explanation
The word gripe, as both noun and verb, refers to a minor complaint. Why gripe about the size of the portions when the food is so awful? The key to gripe is that as complaints go, it's trivial. You don't gripe about your house burning down or the cost of medical care. You gripe about your friend's status updates and the fact the Yankees have too much money. A gripe can last a while. For example, the city has been hearing gripes about parking rules for a generation, but as complaints go, it's just not getting a lot of traction. One person's gripe, however, can be another person's major headache. It all depends on your point of view.
Vocabulary lists containing gripe
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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.
See Examples For:
The main gripe for the frugal is the proposed budget represents an increase of around 60 percent on the last one at a time when member states have to tighten their belts.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
“Any CEO who deliberately damages the company he runs due to some random personal gripe doesn’t deserve to run their company!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
When Mary would gripe, she said, her dad would laugh or “just keep working.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
That was Ainsley’s chief gripe about him: “He said he cared. He said he listened. He didn’t mean any of it. He used me.”
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
If you had a gripe, you settled it outside, where you didn’t risk interrupting the hallowed practice of separating pigeons from their money.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Jones still gripes about the freshmen who come to school every fall trying to replicate one-handed catches they see on TikTok.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
“You’re bleeding all over my counter,” one gripes when Miao races to a police station to report the crime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
It’s a “three-ring circus”: the merits docket, the shadow docket, and the justices’ increasingly public intramural snipings and gripes.
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
This was an increase from just over 70,000 in 2020-21, with one of the main gripes about poor response times.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
If he gripes about the way she handled Thanksgiving, then he has to prove he can do a better job.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
In perhaps the weirdest admission, Katie Miller griped that her husband wears shoes in the house against her will, which she dislikes because “the kids eat off the floor.”
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2026
Throughout this season, fans have griped about apparent false starts that officials have missed by the Eagles on the play.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
He never griped that he was pitching on short rest, or pitching with a bum arm, or pitching with a terrible offense and an untrustworthy bullpen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025
“The system here is broken on many levels,” she griped in a statement.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025
“You two were supposed to make me rich,” griped Big Tony.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
You hear a lot griping about high ticket prices, but artists and promoters set those prices as a reflection of what their costs are.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
The 56-year-old native of upstate New York left his first term on the board prematurely in 2011, griping over policy differences.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
There was much intra-Senate grousing and griping and bickering in the days preceding Friday morning’s vote.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2026
The griping over Ms. Noem’s expensive marketing campaign was pretextual.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Normally, Druzmilla would have greeted Skardebek lovingly, maybe griping that someone had just picked a big scab and thrown it out the window, but she was clearly too nervous to think of a pleasant insult.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
