Carping
adj, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Excessive complaining.
"“Oh, stop your carping, Dawn!” I told myself. “You can't expect charming tones, and Oriental do-dads and apple trees in a German boarding-house.”"
- 2 persistent petty and unjustified criticism wordnet
- 1 present participle and gerund of carp form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 complaining excessively.
"Having thus acknowledged what I owe those who have aided and approved me, I turn to another class; a small one, so far as I know, but not, therefore, to be overlooked. I mean the timorous or carping few who doubt the tendency of such books as "Jane Eyre:" in whose eyes whatever is unusual is wrong; whose ears detect in each protest against bigotry -- that parent of crime -- an insult to piety, that regent of God on earth. I would suggest to such doubters certain obvious distinctions; I would remind them of certain simple truths."
Example
More examples"President Joe Biden’s plan announced Wednesday to plow $2 trillion into an eight-year overhaul of U.S. infrastructure was met with only limited carping from many voices normally critical of government spending. Meanwhile, economists expressed broad agreement that the plan, as proposed, would power long-run economic growth."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.