complain Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness
    plain; kvetch; sound off; kick; quetch.
    • My mother complains all day
    • She has a lot to kick about
  2. verb make a formal accusation; bring a formal charge
    • The plaintiff's lawyer complained that he defendant had physically abused his client

WordNet

Com*plain" intransitive verb
Etymology
F. complaindre, LL. complangere; com- + L. plangere to strike, beat, to beat the breast or head as a sign of grief, to lament. See Plaint.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Complained ; present participle & verbal noun Complaining
Definitions
  1. To give utterance to expression of grief, pain, censure, regret. etc.; to lament; to murmur; to find fault; -- commonly used with of. Also, to creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
    O lose of sight, of three I most complain! Milton.
  2. To make a formal accusation; to make a charge.
    Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain of me to the king? Shak.
    Syn. -- To repine; grumble; deplore; bewail; grieve; mourn; regret; murmur.
Com*plain" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To lament; to bewail. Obs.
    They might the grievance inwardly complain. Daniel.
    By chaste Lucrece's soul that late complain'd Her wrongs to us. Shak.

Webster 1913