Complain vs Plaint - What's the difference?
complain | plaint |
To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
* Milton
To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
* Shakespeare
To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
(poetic, or, archaic) A lament or woeful cry.
* 1827 , Maria Elizabeth Budden,
A complaint.
* 1897 , Henry James, What Maisie Knew :
An accusation.
As a verb complain
is to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.As a noun plaint is
(poetic|or|archaic) a lament or woeful cry .complain
English
Verb
(en verb)- Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.
- O loss of sight, of thee I most complain !
- They've complained about me to the police again.
- Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain of me to the king?
- the complaining bed-springs
Synonyms
* grumble * grouse * grump * bitch * beef * gripe * whine * kvetch * moan * whinge * See alsoExternal links
* *Anagrams
* English reporting verbsplaint
English
Noun
(en noun)Nina, An Icelandic Tale, page 11:
- In the first paroxysm of his grief, Ingolfr exclaimed, (what sorrowing heart has not echoed his plaint ?) that he could never more taste of joy.
- she seemed to repeat, though with perceptible resignation, her plaint of a moment before. ‘Your father, darling, is a very odd person indeed.’
- Once the plaint had been made there was nothing that could be done to revoke it.