complain
verb
Simple meaning
Make a formal accusation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmplaynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmpˈleɪn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make a formal accusation; bring a formal charge
“The plaintiff's lawyer complained that he defendant had physically abused his client.”
intransitive
To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
Used this way, complain is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use complain
- “My mother complains all day.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Expressing pain or dissatisfaction of resentment.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
An often persistent bodily disorder or disease.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.