English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From whine +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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whiny (comparative whinier, superlative whiniest)

  1. Whining; tending to whine or complain.
    Emily is very whiny; she keeps complaining about trivial things.
    • 1981 May 10, Haskel Frankel, “ROSALIND HARRIS IN 'FUNNY GIRL'”, in The New York Times[1]:
      Mrs. Strakosh is played with a whinier accent than Mrs. Brice.
    • 1990 August 17, Caryn James, “Review/Film; An Adman, His Filofax And a Thief”, in The New York Times[2]:
      But everyone else seems to have phoned in the film, including Mr. Grodin at his whiniest and Arthur Hiller, the veteran director of films as funny as The In-Laws and as unspeakable as Love Story.
    • 2000 January 24, Stephen Holden, “MUSIC IN REVIEW: CABARET; Turning 1960's Innocence Into 90's Toughness”, in The New York Times[3]:
      It takes nerve for a singer to dig out a whiny teenage lament from the early days of rock 'n' roll and transform it into a sexy, slow-burning torch song for adults.

Derived terms

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Translations

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