Grumble
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A high thundering, rumbling or growling sound. onomatopoeic
- 2 a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone wordnet
- 3 The sound made by a hungry stomach.
- 4 a loud low dull continuous noise wordnet
- 5 A surly complaint.
"That whiner is never without a grumble to share."
- 1 To make a low, growling or rumbling noise, like a hungry stomach or certain animals. intransitive
"The distant thunder grumbles."
- 2 make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath wordnet
- 3 To complain; to murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner. intransitive
"He grumbles about the food constantly, but has yet to learn to cook."
- 4 show one's unhappiness or critical attitude wordnet
- 5 To utter in a grumbling fashion. transitive
"He grumbled that there was no grain "in the country" and that people were talking instead of working to provide it."
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- 6 to utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds wordnet
- 7 make a low noise wordnet
Example
More examples"She began to grumble and then to weep."
Etymology
Probably from Middle French grommeler, from Old French grumeler (“to murmur, grumble”), from Middle Dutch *grommelen ("to murmur, mutter, grunt"; > Modern Dutch grommelen (“to grumble”)), frequentative of Middle Dutch grommen (“to growl, grunt”). Cognate with Middle Low German grummelen (> Low German grummeln (“to grumble”)), German grummeln (“to grumble”), Norwegian dialectal grymja (“to growl, grunt”).
Related phrases
More for "grumble"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.