repine
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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repinesimple
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repinessimple
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have repinedperfect
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has repinedperfect
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am repiningprogressive
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are repiningprogressive
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is repiningprogressive
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have been repiningperfect progressive
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has been repiningperfect progressive
Past
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repinedsimple
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had repinedperfect
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was repiningprogressive
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were repiningprogressive
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had been repiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repine
Explanation
The verb repine describes expressing gloom or discontent. Brooding, fretful, and sad — these are the traits of people who repine at their circumstances in life. Early American poet Anne Bradstreet used repine in her well-known poem, "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th 1666," describing how the speaker got over the loss: "And when I could no longer look, / I blest His grace that gave and took, / That laid my goods now in the dust. / Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just. / It was his own; it was not mine. / Far be it that I should repine."
Vocabulary lists containing repine
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
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“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift
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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:
We are republishing Patterson’s repine in honor of the holiday.
From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2012
But if no one agrees, the author need not repine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Must Man, the chiefest Work of Art Divine, Be doom'd in endless Discord to repine?
From Time Magazine Archive
I will not pause either to accuse or repine.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
But I repine not, since 'tis Heaven's will.
From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Reade, Charles
I told it to my Lady Pomfret, concluding it would divert her too; and forgetting that she repines when she should laugh, and reasons when she should be diverted.
From The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 1 by Cunningham, Peter
This dame declines—a third repines, and fades, like the rest, away; Her lot she rues, whom a Rookwood woos—cursed is her Wedding Day!
From Rookwood by Ainsworth, William Harrison
Now the envious man repines over the good possessed by another, inasmuch as he deems his neighbor's good to be a hindrance to his own.
From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint
The second of these pieces has been brought with great skill into regular form by transposition: but again one repines to find several touches gone that once were there.
From Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Caine, Hall, Sir
Who is he among the children of the earth, that repines at the power of the wicked? and who is he, that would change the lot of the righteous?
From Almoran and Hamet by Hawkesworth, John
I bore it bravely enough in appearance, but in my heart I repined bitterly.
From Daisy Burns (Volume 1) by Kavanagh, Julia
This was the only drawback to his earthly happiness; but he never repined, or let a word escape his lips, to betray the wish of his heart.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 14 by Various
Heaven is my witness, I never repined at my lowly station, till by that I was deprived of the means of rescuing my beloved family from their distress.
From The Sylph, Volume I and II by Cavendish, Georgiana
Nevertheless they repined not, but took everything in the spirit of calm philosophy.
From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Whymper, Frederick
This let the party in for a long stay at Tautira, at which none repined, for the scenery and climate were delightful, and their new friends hospitable and interesting.
From The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson by Sanchez, Nellie Van de Grift
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 ● Oct. 20, 2025
Far from repining in the sheltered world of the rectory, she was surrounded by sensational, exotic, dramatic life.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2013
When Nina discovered how much too well she had succeeded, she wept, cheered up. went away, leaving John, Mr. Ganson and Dorchester repining.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ripening but not repining, Paul seemed to those around him a strong and saintly character, though he knew himself still a struggling beginner at his endless job.
From Time Magazine Archive
She whispered a poem: “The storm is past, no more repining Behold! the gentle sun is shining” “Yeah,” muttered Charles, “but the track is still too heavy for Seabiscuit.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
