How to use complain in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb
Complain means to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment. Example: “Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.”
Examples of complain by meaning
verbTo express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
- Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.
verbTo state the presence of something negative; to indicate that one is suffering from something; to report (e.g.) a...
- The patient complained of headache, nausea, and joint pain.
verbTo make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
- They've complained about me to the police again.
- If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to?1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 85
verbTo creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
- the complaining bed-springs
More sentences with complain
- He was all bent over complaining of pains in the abdomen.From the entry abdomen
- The neighbor's dog barking throughout the night is a right nuisance - I'm going to complain.From the entry nuisance
- It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain.From the entry would
- They complained that their rules of engagement were handcuffs that guaranteed counterproductivity.From the entry handcuffs
- I don't think it worth complaining about the leak in the roof, is it?From the entry think
- She often spoke in idioms, pining for salad days and complaining about pots calling the kettle black.From the entry idiom
- It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I should write and complain.From the entry should
- Due to her aversion to the outdoors she complained throughout the entire camping trip.From the entry aversion
- Although the elderly man felt mounting pain from his illness, he never complained or puled.From the entry pule
- I didn't think it worth complaining about his friendship not being worth having.From the entry worth
- She is such a sweetheart: she never complains about me being late.From the entry sweetheart
- I complained that the heat was not working, and the landlord sent the handyman to fix it.From the entry handyman
- We must keep the noise down, or the neighbours will complain.From the entry keep down
- Players complained that some of the characters in the game were overpowered and hard to defeat.From the entry overpowered
- "This aircraft seems to be acting a bit squirrelly," the pilot complained uneasily to his copilot.From the entry squirrelly
- He complained he felt like a second-class citizen, but everyone felt put upon that day.From the entry second-class
- He complained that the deadness of the balls affected his game.From the entry deadness
- We don't suppose that complaining about it now is worth it.From the entry worth it
- Some teachers complained that the new online grading software was a solution in search of a problem.From the entry solution in search of a problem
- He can complain all he wants but it won't fix anything.From the entry all one wants
- "That colour does nothing for you" "Argh! And you do nothing but complain bout everything!"From the entry do nothing
- You're always complaining that she's too self-centred. Dude, the call is coming from inside the house!From the entry the call is coming from inside the house
- They were listening to AM and complaining about the static.From the entry am
- I tried complaining, but it was to no effect.From the entry to
- They kept us in line by threatening to put us on the mill twice as long if we complained.From the entry mill
- My boss complains that I'm always late to work.From the entry boss
- This constant complaining is going to drive me insane.From the entry drive
- He is wont to complain loudly about his job.From the entry wont
- She complains that her boyfriend can't find her clitoris.From the entry clitoris
- It ill behooves my mother to complain.From the entry behoove
- The teacher complained of the child's disobedience.From the entry disobedience
- The employees complained that their boss was micromanaging when she insisted that they account for their time in fifteen-minute intervals.From the entry micromanage
- Maybe you could, I don't know, directly talk to her about it instead of complaining to me for once?From the entry I don't know
- She is very whiny; she keeps complaining about trivial things.From the entry whiny
- The patient complained of recurrent chest pain.From the entry recurrent
Meaning of complain
- verb To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
- verb To state the presence of something negative; to indicate that one is suffering from something; to report (e.g.) a symptom.
- verb To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
Questions about complain in a sentence
- How do you use complain in a sentence?
- Complain is used as a verb. For example: “Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.”
- What is a short sentence with complain?
- “the complaining bed-springs”
- What does complain mean?
- Complain means to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: complain (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use complain in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/complain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.