querulous

[kwer-uh-luhs, kwer-yuh-]

adjective

1. full of complaints; complaining.

   Synonyms: discontented, carping, testy, petulant
   Antonyms: contented

2. characterized by or uttered in complaint; peevish.

   a querulous tone; constant querulous reminders of things to be done.

   Synonyms: discontented, carping, testy, petulant

querulous

/ ˈkwɛrʊləs, ˈkwɛrjʊ- /

adjective

1. inclined to make whining or peevish complaints

2. characterized by or proceeding from a complaining fretful attitude or disposition

   a querulous tone

Other Word Forms

• querulously adverb
• querulousness noun
• unquerulous adjective
• unquerulously adverb
• unquerulousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of querulous¹

1490–1500; < Latin querulus, equivalent to quer ( ī ) to complain + -ulus -ulous

Word History and Origins

Origin of querulous¹

C15: from Latin querulus from querī to complain

Example Sentences

If so, why?—Evelyn’s narrative takes on a querulous, panicking tone.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Against a long and attenuated trill of the viola, Mehretu’s backgrounds become a lurid green or mysterious blue and the black lines of the paintings start to look more querulous.

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The British novelist Hilary Mantel, who died on Thursday at age 70, left a wide-ranging and hard-to-classify body of work that encompassed memoir, story collections, contemporary novels and brilliant, querulous literary essays.

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Snarky and sometimes rude, the verse drama tells of a querulous prince stepping anxiously into the spotlight.

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One came across as a quiet, reserved, eloquent, thoughtful force of nature; the other as a boisterous, querulous, troublemaking and sometimes thoughtless and mean force of nature.

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