gripe
/ɡɹaɪp/
gripe verb: to complain; to whine. Also the alternative form of grip.
Verb
gripe (third-person singular simple present gripes, present participle griping, simple past griped or (obsolete) grope, past participle griped or (obsolete) grope or (obsolete) gripen)
- To complain; to whine.
- In “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes, the rules aren’t just different—they don’t even exist. If writers want Homer to kill Flanders or for a segment to end with a marriage between a woman and a giant ape, they can do so without worrying about continuity or consistency or fans griping that the gang is...2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in AV Club
- After making The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (and griping to the press that he was “fed up with the idiots”), Sean Connery enjoyed 17 years of retirement before he died in 2020.2025 September 24, Stuart Heritage, “Go quietly and get a side hustle: how to quit acting properly”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- To annoy or bother.
- What's griping you?
- To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.
- To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.
- How inly sorrow gripes his soul.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- To suffer griping pains.
- the griping of an hungry belly1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC
- To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
- Therefore, everyman, look to that last end that is thy death and the dust that gripeth on every man that is born of woman for as he came naked forth from his mother's womb so naked shall he wend him at the last for to go as he came.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 14]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
- To seize or grasp.
- Wouldst thou gripe both gain and pleasure?1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the...
- UUhoſe hands are made to gripe a warlike Lance— / Their ſhoulders broad, for complet armour fit, / Their lims more large and of a bigger ſize / Than all the brats yſprong from Typhons loins:c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
Noun
gripe (plural gripes)
- A complaint, often a petty or trivial one.
- A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems.
- Grasp; clutch; grip.
- A barren sceptre in my gripe.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- The young peasant […] disengaged himself from Manfred's gripe […].1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section I
- That which is grasped; a handle; a grip.
- the gripe of a sword
- A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.
- Oppression; cruel exaction; affliction; pinching distress.
- the gripe of poverty
- 'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe...1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper […] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of...
- Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines.
Also used as
gripe is also the alternative form of grip.
gripe is also the alternative form of grype.
gripe meaning in Tamil and Telugu
gripe in Tamil
- grasp, clutch, grip
- பிடி piṭi
- that which is grasped
- பிடி piṭi
- pinching distress
- பிணி piṇi
- pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines
- வயிற்றுவலி vayiṟṟuvali
gripe in Telugu
- pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines
- నులి nuli
Examples of gripe in a sentence
- Everyone has their own old-man-yelling-at-cloud gripe that they just can’t let go.
- "Crimony!" Matthew griped as he bent over and tried to catch his breath.
- She griped fetchingly at a clot of news workers who blocked her view.
Synonyms of gripe
Forms of gripe
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | gripes |
| present participle | griping |
| past | griped |
| past participle | griped |
| past (obsolete) | grope |
| past participle (obsolete) | grope |
| past participle (obsolete) | gripen |
| Noun | |
| plural | gripes |
Origin of gripe
From Middle English gripen, from Old English grīpan, from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grab, grasp”). Cognate with West Frisian gripe, Low German griepen, Dutch grijpen, German greifen, Danish gribe, Norwegian Bokmål gripe, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gripa, Icelandic grípa. See also grip, grope.
Words formed from gripe
Phrases with gripe
Words that rhyme with gripe
Questions about gripe
- What does gripe mean?
- Gripe means to complain; to whine.
- What is gripe in Tamil?
- Gripe in Tamil is பிடி (piṭi), பிணி (piṇi), வயிற்றுவலி (vayiṟṟuvali). See Gripe meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is gripe?
- Gripe can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce gripe?
- Gripe is pronounced /ɡɹaɪp/.
- What is the past tense of gripe?
- The past tense of gripe is griped.
Words near gripe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gripe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-gripe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gripe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gripe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.