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whine.

Verb
General
MEANING

1. To produce a prolonged, high-pitched sound.

2. To complain in a persistently fretful or dissatisfied manner.

Use it for

Words that belong together

  • engine whine
  • whine overhead

On the page

The motor whined as the load increased.
Word forms
Base
whine
Past tense
whined
Past participle
whined
Present participle
whining
Full tense & aspect guide
Present
whine
Present continuous
am/is/are whining
Present perfect
have/has whined
Present perfect continuous
have/has been whining
Past
whined
Past continuous
was/were whining
Past perfect
had whined
Past perfect continuous
had been whining
Future
will whine
Future continuous
will be whining
Future perfect
will have whined
Future perfect continuous
will have been whining

Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.

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Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: whine; whines; whined; whined; whining Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: whines.

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