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View synonyms for whimper

whimper

[ hwim-per, wim- ]

verb (used without object)

  1. to cry with low, plaintive, broken sounds.

    Synonyms: sob, weep, whine



verb (used with object)

  1. to utter in a whimper.

noun

  1. a whimpering cry or sound.

    Synonyms: sob, whine

whimper

/ ˈwɪmpə /

verb

  1. intr to cry, sob, or whine softly or intermittently
  2. to complain or say (something) in a whining plaintive way


noun

  1. a soft plaintive whine

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Derived Forms

  • ˈwhimperingly, adverb
  • ˈwhimpering, noun
  • ˈwhimperer, noun

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Other Words From

  • whimper·er noun
  • whimper·ing·ly adverb
  • un·whimper·ing adjective
  • un·whimper·ing·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of whimper1

1505–15; obsolete whimp to whine + -er 6

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Word History and Origins

Origin of whimper1

C16: from dialect whimp, of imitative origin

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Example Sentences

Experts have long predicted that the pandemic will end with a whimper, not a bang.

From Time

For instance, stars burn through their hydrogen fuel, puff up and eventually expel their gases into space, whether with a bang or a whimper.

Yet, rather than following the path laid out in its shadow docket decisions this term, Fulton ended instead with a whimper.

From Vox

For much of its run, Game of Thrones was the biggest show on television, and then it went out with a whimper.

From Vox

Dems in disarrayThe 2020 election ended in a whimper yesterday evening, when Democrat Rita Hart suspended her challenge to the results in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.

Did the French monarchy end not with a bang—or a whimper—but a smile?

As ends of eras go, he recalls, it was mostly whimper and not much bang.

Democratic capitalism had won the Cold War not with a bang, but a whimper.

In Kyushu, where the yakuza are deeply rooted, they are not leaving with a whimper, they are leaving with a bang.

Without a bang or a whimper, the Grand Bargain died this week.

He turned kind of white around the gills when he first felt the halter around his neck, and then braced up and not a whimper.

By this time the bent figure sitting in the rocking-chair, near the coffin began to show signs of life and whimper a little.

The whimper grew to a cry which Bud's rude rocking back and forth on the box before the fireplace could not still.

Just look at those poor boys there—some of them are dying, almost, but they won't whimper.

In the ominous silence the dog began to whimper in his sleep and his hind legs kicked convulsively.

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