- the act of complaining; an expression of grievance
- a cause for complaining; grievance
- a mild ailment
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
com•plaint /kəmˈpleɪnt/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- an expression of discontent, regret, pain, resentment, or grief: [countable]The police did not listen to her complaints.[uncountable]I've written several letters of complaint.
- a cause of such discontent;
reason for complaining: [countable]Her complaint was that no one listened to her.[uncountable]You don't have good grounds for complaint about noise. - [countable] a cause of bodily pain or ailment;
malady: to suffer from a rare complaint.
com•plaint
(kəm plānt′),USA pronunciation n.
- an expression of discontent, regret, pain, censure, resentment, or grief;
lament;
faultfinding:his complaint about poor schools. - a cause of discontent, pain, grief, lamentation, etc.
- a cause of bodily pain or ailment;
malady:The doctor says I suffer from a rare complaint. - Lawthe first pleading of the plaintiff in a civil action, stating the cause of action.
- Latin com- com- + plancta plaint
- Middle French complainte
- Middle English compleynte 1350–1400
- 3. sickness, illness, ailment.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
complaint /kəmˈpleɪnt/ n
'complaint' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
beef
- bleat
- complainant
- cop
- crybaby
- fuss
- gravamen
- grievance
- grin
- gripe
- groan
- grouch
- ground
- grouse
- grumble
- head
- Hughes
- information
- jeremiad
- justification
- long-suffering
- moan
- murmur
- mutter
- niggle
- plaint
- quarrel
- re
- refer
- Roth
- silence
- sook
- source
- squawk
- voice
- whine
- whinge
- yammer
- accent
- ah
- answer
- bill
- bitch
- carp
- comeback
- connivance
- declaration
- dirt
- disease
- dismiss