grumble

1. 1.

   a loud low dull continuous noise

   “they heard the rumbling of thunder”

   Synonymsrumblerumblinggrumbling

   Broadernoise
2. 2.

   a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone

   Synonymsgrumblingmurmurmurmuringmuttermuttering

   Broadercomplaint

Other forms of grumble

plural

grumbles·

past tense

grumbled·

present participle

grumbling·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about grumble

What does grumble mean?

grumble means "show one's unhappiness or critical attitude". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in grumble?

grumble has 2 syllables: grum-ble. The stress falls on "grum". In IPA it is /ˈɡɹʌmbəl/.

What is another word for grumble?

Close synonyms include grouch, scold, murmur, mutter, croak. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is grumble a common word?

grumble is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.