Synonyms

repine

American

[ri-pahyn] / rɪˈpaɪn /

verb (used without object)

repined, repining

to be fretfully discontented; fret; complain.

repine British

/ rɪˈpaɪn /

verb

(intr) to be fretful or low-spirited through discontent

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

repiner noun
unrepined adjective
unrepining adjective

Etymology

Origin of repine

First recorded in 1520–30; re- + pine ²

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.

More a conscious repining at their existence, mixed with revulsion at the thought that she occasionally had to share space with them.

From The Wall Street Journal

She had not much time for repining, however, for the three young girls were busily employed in ‘having a good time’.

From Literature

I will not pause either to accuse or repine.

From Literature

“But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”

From Literature

Freeman called Lee “the Southern Arthur” who “accepted fame without vanity and defeat without repining.”

From Washington Post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023