Library / English Dictionary

WHINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way

Synonyms:

whimper; whine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("whine" is a kind of...):

complaint (an expression of grievance or resentment)

Derivation:

whine (complain whiningly)

whine (talk in a tearful manner)

whiney; whiny (habitually complaining)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Complain whiningly

Synonyms:

grizzle; whine; yammer; yawp

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "whine" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Verb group:

snivel; whine (talk in a tearful manner)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

whine (a complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way)

whiner (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Talk in a tearful manner

Synonyms:

snivel; whine

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "whine" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Verb group:

grizzle; whine; yammer; yawp (complain whiningly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue whine

Derivation:

whine (a complaint uttered in a plaintive whining way)

whiner (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move with a whining sound

Example:

The bullets were whining past us

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "whine" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make a high-pitched, screeching noise

Example:

My car engine makes a whining noise

Synonyms:

creak; screak; screech; skreak; squeak; whine

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "whine" is one way to...):

make noise; noise; resound (emit a noise)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

“It was a joke, my good sir—a practical joke, nothing more,” he whined incessantly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The human ear can detect a wide range of frequencies, from the low rumbles of distant thunder to the high-pitched whine of a mosquito.

(Hearing different frequencies, NIH)

You rob me first, and now you would come preaching and whining, in search mayhap of another field or two for your priestly friends.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The aërial battle was over, and Thomas Mugridge, whining and gibbering, his mouth flecked with bloody foam, was brought down to deck.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Three doors faced up upon the second floor, and it was from the central of these that the sinister sounds were issuing, sinking sometimes into a dull mumble and rising again into a shrill whine.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I can't, dear, because you aren't invited," began Meg, but Jo broke in impatiently, "Now, Meg, be quiet or you will spoil it all. You can't go, Amy, so don't be a baby and whine about it."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

More restless than he was, he crawls out of his house, and looks at me, and wanders to the door, and whines to go upstairs.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

For the better part of an hour the wild brother ran by his side, whining softly.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“No; but one of them was mine all the same,” whined the little man.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Whining spiritlessly, they were reluctant to work.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)