Library / English Dictionary

GRUMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone

Synonyms:

grumble; grumbling; murmur; murmuring; mutter; muttering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("grumble" is a kind of...):

complaint (an expression of grievance or resentment)

Derivation:

grumble (make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath)

grumble (show one's unhappiness or critical attitude)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A loud low dull continuous noise

Example:

they heard the rumbling of thunder

Synonyms:

grumble; grumbling; rumble; rumbling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("grumble" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

grumble (to utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds)

grumble (make a low noise)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath

Example:

she grumbles when she feels overworked

Synonyms:

croak; gnarl; grumble; murmur; mutter

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "grumble" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

grumble (a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone)

grumbler (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

grumbling (a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show one's unhappiness or critical attitude

Example:

We grumbled about the increased work load

Synonyms:

grouch; grumble; scold

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "grumble" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

grumble (a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone)

grumbler (a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds

Example:

Stones grumbled down the cliff

Synonyms:

growl; grumble; rumble

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "grumble" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

grumble; grumbling (a loud low dull continuous noise)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make a low noise

Example:

rumbling thunder

Synonyms:

grumble; rumble

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "grumble" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

Cars grumble in the streets

The streets grumble with cars

Derivation:

grumble; grumbling (a loud low dull continuous noise)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then at last Summerlee, with his sneer and his pipe, would move forwards, and Challenger would come rolling and grumbling after.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You have done a great deal of work on this mission over the past two years, and while it might not have always been easy, as the practical soldier that you are, you powered through with grace, never with so much as a grumble.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The skipper was not displeased with the compliment, and went on:—When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them, the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started frae London.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Nobody but old Redruth would have dared so much as even to grumble.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Humph! I thought as much,” grumbled the smith.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I am a man who may grutch and grumble, but when I have set my face to do a thing I will not turn my back upon it until it be done.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Johnson, looking on, still continued his grumbling.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I have not been in town half-a-dozen hours, and those I have been dozing and grumbling away at the play.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Well, we can't have it, so don't let us grumble but shoulder our bundles and trudge along as cheerfully as Marmee does.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Well, if he was, he finished himself off by that affair," Haythorne grumbled.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)