Meaning of complaint in English

complaint

noun

/kəmˈpleɪnt/ us

/kəmˈpleɪnt/

complaint noun (REPORT OF A PROBLEM)

Add to word list Add to word list

B1 [ C or U ]

a statement that something is wrong or not satisfactory:

We've received a complaint from one of our listeners about offensive language.

I've made a complaint (= formally complained) to the police about the noise.

[ + that ] We've had complaints that you've been playing your radio too loud.

Do you have any grounds for complaint (= reason to formally complain)?

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to say something is not right or satisfactory

complainI hate to complain, but the film was terrible.
grumbleShe's always grumbling about something.
whineI hope you don't think I'm just whining.
kvetchStop kvetching about it!
make a fussIf the food doesn't come soon, I'm going to make a fuss.
file a complaintI've filed a complaint with the police about the noise.

See more results »

More examplesFewer examples

The manufacturers are reported to have received a long list of complaints from dissatisfied customers.
The company has new procedures for dealing with complaints.
We've received lots of complaints about the changes from regular listeners to the programme.
My lawyer is going to compose a letter of complaint.
I wish to make a complaint - these chips are cold.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Complaining

See more results »

complaint noun (ILLNESS)

[ C ]

an illness:

a heart/stomach complaint

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Disease & illness - general words

See more results »

(Definition of complaint from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

complaint | American Dictionary

complaint

noun [ C/U ]

/kəmˈpleɪnt/

Add to word list Add to word list

a statement that something is wrong or not good enough, the act of complaining, or the thing you are complaining about:

[ U ] a letter of complaint

[ C ] Her only complaint is that she sometimes didn’t get enough heat in her apartment.

law A complaint is also a formal statement to a government authority that you have a legal cause to complain about the way you have been treated:

[ C ] He filed a complaint with the commission, charging discrimination based on his disability.

(Definition of complaint from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

complaint | Business English

complaint

noun

/kəmˈpleɪnt/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C ]

a written or spoken statement in which someone says that somebody has done something wrong or that something is not satisfactory:

lodge/make/receive a complaint The council has said that it received complaints but that it cannot disclose details.

deal with/handle complaints They have an efficient system in place for dealing with customer complaints.

complaint about sb/sth The gas company has promised to investigate the man's complaint about a quarterly bill for £1,500.

complaint against sb/sth Complaints against an employment agency should be made to the Employment Agencies Standards office.

[ C or U ]

the act of complaining, or a reason for someone to complain:

The biggest complaint about the new proposal is that it could increase costs.

cause/grounds for complaint On this occasion, shareholders have little cause for complaint.

We have received several letters of complaint.

[ C ] LAW

a formal statement that someone has harmed somebody else or done something illegal, which must be proved in a court of law:

file/lodge a complaint A complaint alleging financial wrongdoing was lodged with the district attorney's office.

(Definition of complaint from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of complaint

complaint

Unfortunately, complaints returned due to a disturbance of rhythm.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Memory complaints do reflect perceptions of past memory performance and are also an early manifestation of memory impairment.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Archives hold numerous complaints from provincial governors about the insufficiency of security forces under their authority and requests for additional mounted recruits.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The process of increased bone cell turnover itself does not usually cause complaints.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Why and where does never mind prove useful in complaint sequences and for whom?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

What the study does not have is information on respondents' attributions of their depressive complaints to traumatic events.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Memory complaints and impairment in normal, depressed, and demented elderly persons identified in a community survey.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The central bureaucracy was poorly equipped to deal with the stream of complaints and requests for adjudication and clarification pouring in from the provinces.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Women with other than trivial complaints were excluded from further participation, as were those who took oestrogens or progestins and those who became pregnant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In other words, the complaint was dismissed because it was prematurely lodged.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Availability of psychometrically sound fatigue measures that are applicable across disorders provides a sound basis for advancing the understanding of this common and distressing complaint.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When they have been so grossly disrespectful of others, they have thereby lost the basis for complaint at being treated with similar disrespect.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The problem of boredom as a health care issue has been subsumed under research on other complaints such as depression, apathy, or fatigue.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The trade unions' complaints and demands concentrated on the low wages, the harsh working and living conditions and-of crucial importance-the exploitative kangany-system.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We offer you some alternative proposals how one might measure the size of complaints.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of complaint

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.

Collocations with complaint

complaint

These are words often used in combination with complaint.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

bitter complaint

That was his bitter complaint.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

chief complaint

Fever was the most commonly encountered chief complaint.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

common complaint

Painful shoulder is a common complaint in the older person.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with complaint

What is the pronunciation of complaint?

Translations of complaint

in Chinese (Traditional)

投訴, 抱怨，牢騷, 不滿…

Meaning of complaint in English

complaint noun (REPORT OF A PROBLEM)

complaint noun (ILLNESS)

complaint | American Dictionary

complaint | Business English

Examples of complaint

Collocations with complaint

complaint

Translations of complaint

Browse

Learn more with +Plus

Learn more with +Plus