complain of something

complain | American Dictionary

complain
verb[ I ]
us/kəmˈpleɪn/
to say that something is wrong or not good enough:
Bill and Nancy are always complaining about their neighbor, whose dog frightens their kids.
[ + that clause ]She complained that she had too much work to do.
If you complain of a physical condition, you describe something that hurts or makes you feel ill:
She complained of aching knees from her arthritis.

complain | Business English

complain
verb[ I ]
uk /kəmˈpleɪn/us
to tell someone that something is wrong or not satisfactory, and that you are annoyed about it:
complain about sthWorkers complain about the conditions in which they are forced to work.
complain thatThe chief executive complained that there were no systems of accountability, financial control, or planning.

Examples of complain

complain
These workers recognised the existence of a status quo and were quick to complain when the 'economy of the g ift' failed to deliver.
He took up the cause of private enterprise and complained of excessive taxes and government interference.
Delegates regularly complained of long days in meetings and many days away from work and family.
When people demand to have 'choices, not echoes', are they truly complaining about not having distinct choices or just about facing a bad outcome?
But one might complain that the emphasis on aggression and guilt fits rather badly with the unambiguously affirmative tone of the opera's conclusion.
Almost all operators complain of high costs, in particular high charges for electricity, water and fuel.
If litigation over the initial terms of hire was infrequent, mariners often complained when masters or merchants changed a ship's destination midvoyage.
But villages often complain that they do not gain any income from these fees.
Here he was complaining about the tendency of critics to apply an abstract body of classical rules.
He often complained about the 'moralistic attitude' which seemed to motivate many of his critics.
Many of our participants clearly felt that they ' mustn't complain ', which may be an adaptive psychological strategy for coping with the vicissitudes of advancing age.
Thus, wives may complain more about lack of involvement in household decisions.
In their households and in the market, the women complained about the fact that certain issues were never addressed at the meetings.
But if reviewers complained about the opera's hybridity, they nonetheless cited these episodes of celebration as favourites.
Moreover, planters complained that larger estates were being forced to provide these services while smaller estates and smallholdings were exempted from these rules.
See all examples of complain
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.