querulous
Americanadjective
-
full of complaints; complaining.
- Synonyms:
- discontented, carping, testy, petulant
- Antonyms:
- contented
-
characterized by or uttered in complaint; peevish.
a querulous tone; constant querulous reminders of things to be done.
- Synonyms:
- discontented, carping, testy, petulant
adjective
-
inclined to make whining or peevish complaints
-
characterized by or proceeding from a complaining fretful attitude or disposition
a querulous tone
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of querulous
1490–1500; < Latin querulus, equivalent to quer ( ī ) to complain + -ulus -ulous
Explanation
Querulous means “having a tendency to complain” or, more directly put, “whiny.” Sure, no one can be happy all the time, but that’s no excuse for being querulous. Querulous may remind you of the word query, which means “question.” However, the two words are not closely related. It’s perfectly reasonable to make a query; just don’t be querulous if you don’t like the answer you get. Querulous does share its origins with the word quarrel, which means “argument” — and that’s what’s likely to happen if you complain too much.
Vocabulary lists containing querulous
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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.
Querulous and clumsy, they were somehow human, in spite of their great gifts.
From Slate • Aug. 10, 2015
So there are the candidates -- the Frustrating Five, the Querulous Quintet.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2010
Querulous members of the Chicago Medical Society, to which Dr. Bevan belongs, cried for his condemnation, if not ousting.
From Time Magazine Archive
Querulous prayers rose in the darkness to blend with hysterical shrieks.
From Time Magazine Archive
Querulous or indignant, his honest simplicity confided to the paper before him such extemporaneous soliloquies, and I have found him hiding in the very corners of his manuscripts his “secret sorrows.”
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Disraeli, Isaac
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.
