Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Given to complaining; peevish.
- adj. Expressing a complaint or grievance; grumbling: a querulous voice; querulous comments.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Complaining; habitually complaining; disposed to murmur or express dissatisfaction: as, a querulous man.
- Expressing complaint; proceeding from a complaining habit: as, a querulous tone of voice.
- Quarrelsome.
- Synonyms and See plaintive and petulant.
Wiktionary
- adj. Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Given to quarreling; quarrelsome.
- adj. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining; disposed to murmur.
- adj. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. habitually complaining
Etymologies
- Middle English querulose, litigious, quarrelsome, from Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, querulous, from Latin querulus, from querī, to complain; see kwes- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“It is legitimately hard to decide which of these four points is the most ridiculous. (1) and (2) might charitably be called querulous, demanding a full vector representation of all the heat/energy flows of a schematic representation.”
“Anne!" called a querulous voice down the passage.”
Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls
“Don't stand looking any longer, for mercy's sake!" called the querulous voice from the house.”
“Suddenly the groom, a kind of querulous shiver in his voice, spoke.”
“Her words came so fast that I cannot attempt their semblance here, and her voice rose and fell in a kind of querulous chant to which sometimes she nodded her head, as if she was beating the time.”
“Servillo's performance at the centre of Paolo Sorrentino's grotesque portrait of former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, as a kind of querulous, jug-eared gnome with homicidal instincts, was hugely entertaining and alarming.”
“Furthermore, not to be picky, but for a book that complains about poor vocabulary skills among digital readers and writers, I couldn't help but notice that on page sixteen he seems to misuse the word "querulous" in place of what sounds like he intended to be a synonym for "inquisitive.”
“At sight of their other prisoner he chattered in a high querulous falsetto, with puckered brows and troubled, wild-animal eyes.”
“When I started to crawl along the packed gear with which the wagon was laden my mother said in a tired and querulous voice, "Can't you ever be still a minute, Jesse?”
“His eyes had the querulous, troubled look such as she had noticed in monkeys; but while he was patently uncomfortable under her scrutiny, his thick lips were drawn firmly in an effort at sullen determination.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘querulous’.
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Q words
Ever get stuck with the random bunch of letters and a q and not know any words? Well, maybe this will help.
quire, quais, quai, queer, quoit, quitrent, quit, quipster, question, quest, questing, quests and 208 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 154 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1074 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
itz_chucknorris a philosopher is a man who works with stuff Oct 28, 2010
sera Complaining - like Professor Quirinus Quirrell (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone) Aug 13, 2007