complaint

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An expression of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
2. n. A cause or reason for complaining; a grievance.
3. n. A bodily disorder or disease; a malady or ailment.
4. n. The symptom or distress about which a patient seeks medical assistance.
5. n. Law The presentation by the plaintiff in a civil action, setting forth the claim on which relief is sought.
6. n. Law A formal charge, made under oath, of the commission of a crime or other such offense.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An expression of grief, regret, pain, censure, resentment, or discontent; lamentation; faultfinding; murmuring.
2. n. That which is complained of; a cause of grief, discontent, lamentation, etc.
3. n. A cause of bodily pain or uneasiness; a malady; a disease; an ailment: usually applied to disorders not violent.
4. n. A formal accusation; a charge that an offense has been committed; especially, such a charge presented to an officer or a court for the purpose of instituting prosecution.
5. n. In many of the United States, the pleading in which the plaintiff in a civil action formally sets forth the facts of his case, with his claim for relief thereon: corresponding to the declaration at common law, the bill in equity, and the libel in admiralty.
6. n. A poem bewailing ill fortune in matters of love; a plaint.
7. n. Synonyms Lament.
8. n. Ailment, disorder, distemper, illness.

Wiktionary

1. n. A grievance, problem, difficulty, or concern; the act of complaining.
2. n. law In a civil action, the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim is based; The purpose is to give notice to the adversary of the nature and basis of the claim asserted.
3. n. law In criminal law, the preliminary charge or accusation made by one person against another to the appropriate court or officer, usually a magistrate. However, court proceedings, such as a trial, cannot be instituted until an indictment or information has been handed down against the defendant.
4. n. A consumer complaint.
5. n. A bodily disorder or disease; the symptom of such a disorder.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Expression of grief, regret, pain, censure, or resentment; lamentation; murmuring; accusation; fault-finding.
2. n. Cause or subject of complaint or murmuring.
3. n. An ailment or disease of the body.
4. n. (Law) A formal allegation or charge against a party made or presented to the appropriate court or officer, as for a wrong done or a crime committed (in the latter case, generally under oath); an information; accusation; the initial bill in proceedings in equity.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
2. n. (criminal law) a pleading describing some wrong or offense
3. n. (civil law) the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim for relief is based
4. n. (formerly) a loud cry (or repeated cries) of pain or rage or sorrow
5. n. an expression of grievance or resentment