variants
or less commonly whiney
whinier; whiniest
: characterized by whining:
a
: having a high-pitched, shrill or plaintive quality
a whiny voice
"So What'cha Want," despite its jittery organ, whiny guitar, and distorted vocals, turned out to be one of the least predictable-sounding hit singles of recent years.—
Alan Light
Alan Light
b
: characterized by or given to complaining
whiny children
Their whiny, even beggarly tone was hardly the supremely confident sound of the American Century.—Sidney Blumenthal
Sidney Blumenthal… offering little more than a whiny list of grievances …—Linda Chavez
Linda ChavezIn this conversational memoir, Nancy comes across as honest, if a little whiny, and a major-league worrier.—Ilene Cooper
Ilene Cooper
whininess
noun
A few years ago, thirtysomething was widely reviled for encouraging the yuppie ethos of materialism and whininess.
—Mark Harris
Mark Harris
… I heard something, a certain whininess in his voice, maybe, that led me to conclude that I wasn't about to get a pasting …
—Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby
Examples of whiny in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In earlier show appearances, Aegon comes off like a typical whiny teen, entitled, oblivious to the political intrigues around him, masturbating out a window of the Red Keep.
—Aja Romano, Vox, 17 June 2024
Jack is doing a really annoying voice in it — high and shaking and whiny with a weird, almost Police-like inflection.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 29 Mar. 2024
Paired with a whiny Lineartronic CVT transmission, road noise was at the forefront and noticeable for all passengers.
—Marc D Grasso, Hartford Courant, 17 Feb. 2024
As fans shrugged toward the exits at Ball Arena, one thing was clear: The Minnesota Timberwolves are way better than the whiny Lakers.
—Troy Renck, The Denver Post, 4 May 2024
Their victories have worked like chlorine in the whiny conservative swamp that was Orange County.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
The league had determined that fans thought players were too whiny.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2024
This person had more than a year to prepare for the move, but didn’t plan ahead for many of the tasks and now is overwhelmed, needy, whiny and complaining constantly.
—Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
Our next president ought to promise to protect scholars who are doing their jobs well from the consequences of offending a particularly whiny student or administrator.
—Alexander Hughes, National Review, 4 Jan. 2024
Aja Romano, Vox, 17 June 2024
Jack is doing a really annoying voice in it — high and shaking and whiny with a weird, almost Police-like inflection.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 29 Mar. 2024
Paired with a whiny Lineartronic CVT transmission, road noise was at the forefront and noticeable for all passengers.
—Marc D Grasso, Hartford Courant, 17 Feb. 2024
As fans shrugged toward the exits at Ball Arena, one thing was clear: The Minnesota Timberwolves are way better than the whiny Lakers.
—Troy Renck, The Denver Post, 4 May 2024
Their victories have worked like chlorine in the whiny conservative swamp that was Orange County.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024
The league had determined that fans thought players were too whiny.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2024
This person had more than a year to prepare for the move, but didn’t plan ahead for many of the tasks and now is overwhelmed, needy, whiny and complaining constantly.
—Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
Our next president ought to promise to protect scholars who are doing their jobs well from the consequences of offending a particularly whiny student or administrator.
—Alexander Hughes, National Review, 4 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whiny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near whiny
Cite this Entry
“Whiny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whiny. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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