to piss and moan
4
9.9
- phrasal verb
- /pɪs ənd moʊn/
- Offensive
:
quejarse continuamente
- All you do is piss and moan about trivial problems.
- stop pissing and moaning
Examples
-
He's pissing and moaning about the heat.
-
Finally, you can piss and moan about how things are, or you can get off your asses and do something.
Blog text (5) -
Yeah, I agree because again, Internet, you will disagree, you will piss and moan in the comments all day.
-
In the meantime, all you do is piss and moan and add nothing to the discussion.
Blog text (33) -
Jesus, I trade some old piece of crap for a valuable hunting dog, and all you can do is piss and moan.
Fiction book (1993) -
Now kindly stop pissing and moaning and let the boy get through this on his own.
Fiction book (1999) -
Geez, we got one good thing going for us, and you still got to find something to piss and moan about.
Blog text (22) -
We can piss and moan about hypocrisy and Democratic misdealings all day.
Blog text (31) -
The non-producers piss and moan that wealth distribution is inequitable.
Blog text (2) -
They think they'll write the great American novel... but all they're really gonna do is piss and moan... and write lousy leads about high school football games.
Synonyms
311
8.1
To complain a lot in an annoying way
211
2.8
To complain in a high, annoying voice
41
3.7
To complain quietly in a low voice
38
5.6
To complain repeatedly about small things
23
6.7
Talk again and again about the same thing and annoy people
9
6.9
Shout angrily and complain for a long time
8
9.6
To complain a lot in an annoying way
8
7.4
To complain about small unimportant things
7
6.0
To complain loudly in a way that annoys other people
6
4.1
To complain quietly about something you do not like
5
8.1
To complain in an annoying way about small things
4
9.9
To complain often about small things
2
7.4
To complain loudly and make people notice the problem
1
4.1
Make a low sound or complain to show you are annoyed at something
1
6.8
To complain a lot in an annoying way
1
7.3
To complain in a small, repeated way
1
8.7
Complain a lot in a dramatic way about something that upsets you
To complain in a sulky, childish way about small things
To complain quietly because you are unhappy
Make a loud, rough sound like a shout to show anger or complaint
How Complaining
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'moan' directly signals 'complain', so a learner who knows that word would likely infer the general idea of complaining. However, 'piss' is vulgar/slang and here functions idiomatically as an intensifier/collocational marker rather than its literal meaning, so the exact pragmatic sense (persistent, annoying whining) and register are not fully predictable.
Etymology
The idiom piss and moan likely joins the rude verb piss, meaning 'to show anger or use bad words', and moan, meaning 'to complain quietly'. Imagine someone both swearing and whining, and that strong image explains why it means 'to complain a lot'.