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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gripe.

To complain; to whine.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɡɹaɪp/
  1. To complain; to whine.

    informal · intransitive
  2. To annoy or bother.

    informal · transitive
    What's griping you?
  3. To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.

  4. To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.

    obsolete · transitive
  5. To suffer griping pains.

    intransitive
  6. To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).

    intransitive · obsolete
  7. To seize or grasp.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English gripen, from Old English grīpan, from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grab, grasp”). Cognate with West Frisian gripe, Low German griepen, Dutch grijpen, German greifen, Danish gribe, Norwegian Bokmål gripe, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gripa, Icelandic grípa. See also grip, grope.

noun/ɡɹaɪp/
  1. A complaint, often a petty or trivial one.

  2. A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems.

  3. Grasp; clutch; grip.

    obsolete
  4. That which is grasped; a handle; a grip.

    obsolete
  5. A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.

    dated
  6. Oppression; cruel exaction; affliction; pinching distress.

    obsolete
    the gripe of poverty
  7. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines.

    in-plural
Where this word comes from

From Middle English gripen, from Old English grīpan, from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grab, grasp”). Cognate with West Frisian gripe, Low German griepen, Dutch grijpen, German greifen, Danish gribe, Norwegian Bokmål gripe, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gripa, Icelandic grípa. See also grip, grope.

noun
  1. Alternative form of grip (trench, ditch, furrow).

    Ireland · alt-of · alternative · dialectal
noun
  1. Alternative form of grype.

    alt-of · alternative
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.