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puling

[ pyoo-ling ]

/ ˈpyu lɪŋ /

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adjective

whining; whimpering: a puling child.

QUIZ

TAKE JOY IN ACING THIS QUIZ ON “PRIDE” SYNONYMS

Hold your head up high as you embark on this quiz that explores some of the synonyms and meanings of “pride.”

Question 1 of 7

What does "dignity" mean?

showing self-respect

treating others with kindness

acting selfishly

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of puling

First recorded in 1520–30; pule + -ing²

OTHER WORDS FROM puling

pul·ing·ly, adverb

Words nearby puling

pule, Pulesati, Pulex, puli, pulicicide, puling, Pulitzer, Pulitzer Prize, Pulitzer Prizes, Pulj, pulk

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use puling in a sentence

There's been quite a bit of hair-puling over why Washington DC isn't hip.
Why Isn't Washington DC Hip?|Justin Green|September 26, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We are accustomed nowadays to a great deal of puling over the circumstances in which we are placed.
The Pocket R.L.S.|Robert Louis Stevenson
Away with this whimpering, this puling, these blubbering tears, and these wet eyes!
The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys.|Thomas Dekker
No puling cloister-maid this that dares not raise her eyes higher than her bridegroom's knee!
Joan of the Sword Hand|S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett

Poets are such a quarrelsome lot tooeffeminate, puling, unmanly humbugs!
The Sorrows of Satan|Marie Corelli
He regarded Smithson kindly, whereat that rather puling gentleman once again assumed his martial bearing.
Within the Law|Marvin Dana