querulous

  • 1Querulous — Quer u*lous, a. [L. querulus and querulosus, fr. queri to complain. Cf. {Cry}, v., {Quarrel} a brawl, {Quarrelous}.] 1. Given to quarreling; quarrelsome. [Obs.] land. [1913 Webster] 2. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining; disposed to… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2querulous — I adjective bewailing, canting, captious, carping, censorious, clamorous, complaining, contentious, cross, difficult, difficult to please, discontented, disputatious, dissatisfied, exceptious, faultfinding, fractious, fretful, grouchy, grumbling …

    Law dictionary

  • 3querulous — (adj.) c.1500, from O.Fr. querelos, from L.L. querulosus, from L. querulus full of complaints, complaining, from queri to complain. Retains the original vowel of QUARREL (Cf. quarrel) (n.1) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4querulous — fretful, petulant, pettish, huffy, *irritable, peevish, fractious, snappish, waspish Analogous words: crying, weeping, wailing, whimpering, blubbering (see CRY vb): touchy, cranky, cross (see IRASCIBLE): lamenting, deploring, bemoaning (see… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5querulous — [adj] grouchy, hard to please bearish, bemoaning, cantankerous, captious, carping, censorious, complaining, critical, cross, crying, deploring, discontented, dissatisfied, edgy, fault finding, fretful, grousing, grumbling, grumbly, huffy*… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6querulous — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ complaining in a petulant or whining manner. DERIVATIVES querulously adverb querulousness noun. ORIGIN Latin querulus, from queri complain …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7querulous — [kwer′yo͞o ləs, kwer′yooləs, kwer′yələs; kwer′ooləs, kwer′ələs] adj. [L querulus < queri, to complain: see QUARREL2] 1. inclined to find fault; complaining 2. full of complaint; peevish querulously adv. querulousness n …

    English World dictionary

  • 8querulous — querulously, adv. querulousness, n. /kwer euh leuhs, kwer yeuh /, adj. 1. full of complaints; complaining. 2. characterized by or uttered in complaint; peevish: a querulous tone; constant querulous reminders of things to be done. [1490 1500; < L&#8230; …

    Universalium

  • 9querulous — quer|u|lous [ˈkweruləs] adj formal [Date: 1400 1500; : Latin; Origin: querulosus, from queri; QUARREL1] someone who is querulous complains about things in an annoying way ▪ But why can t I go? he said in a querulous voice . &GT;querulously adv …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 10querulous — [[t]kwe̱rʊləs[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) Someone who is querulous often complains about things. [FORMAL] A querulous male voice said, Look, are you going to order, or what? …

    English dictionary