How to Use whine in a Sentence

whine

1 of 2 verb
  • The electric saw whined as it cut through the wood.
  • The workers were whining that the office was too cold.
  • The dog was whining because it wanted to go out.
  • He's always whining about the weather.
  • Quit whining and finish your dinner.
  • The players liked it and the haters hated it and whined their heads off.
    Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Feb. 2018
  • The leader rears up, whining with pain, and slaps her to the floor again.
    Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2018
  • Don’t whine too much, just pick up the pieces and get going again.
    Adam Rathe, Town & Country, 14 Sep. 2017
  • And his job isn't to whine about it, his job is to do something about it.
    Stephen Collinson With Caitlin Hu, CNN, 28 June 2020
  • Democrats whine that the wealthy will enjoy the lion’s share of Trump’s tax cuts.
    Deroy Murdock, National Review, 6 Oct. 2017
  • If any of them would whine or cry or bark the moose would trample them.
    Blair Braverman, Outside Online, 7 Mar. 2022
  • The girl knows better than to whine about a stomach ache.
    Rebecca Curtis, The New Yorker, 9 Nov. 2020
  • The stillness was shattered by its whining clatter and the buzz of the prop.
    Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2023
  • One day, the pup was whining at the front door and started pacing back and forth.
    Hilary Shenfeld, PEOPLE.com, 4 Nov. 2019
  • But will kids whine about it (other than for their own Yes Day)?
    Kimber Myers, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2021
  • Just stood a few feet away and whined, the fur on his back standing up in one prickling ridge.
    Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping, 23 Oct. 2019
  • Fessy is left alone in the volcano to whine like a petulant child.
    Kyndall Cunningham, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2021
  • Nothing can ruin a run like a whining child who wants to get out of the seat!
    Jessica Booth, Parents, 10 July 2023
  • Don't whine, and don't be the one who complains about everything.
    Gwen Ihnat, EW.com, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Everyone is whining about what a catch is, and what a catch is not.
    The Tylt, cleveland.com, 20 Dec. 2017
  • Winches whined as the hangar rolled back, and the sub was moved along tracks and then out of its cradle, pinning it against a bumper at the stern of the ship.
    Susan Casey, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2019
  • As the engines sputter and whine on the prison transport plane Jailbird.
    Michael Lee Simpson, EW.com, 14 Dec. 2022
  • If the Americans wanted to whine about their fate at the World Cup, there would be plenty of cause.
    Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 22 June 2019
  • Not just squeaky-wheelers in their district who have them on speed-dial and whine each time the wind shifts.
    Roy S. Johnson | Rjohnson@al.com, al, 19 May 2021
  • Don’t whine to me about Barack Obama flying to Hawaii for Christmas.
    Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 25 Mar. 2017
  • The Nats whined incessantly to referees and their style was straight out of the 1940s.
    Frank Fitzpatrick, Philly.com, 11 May 2018
  • If this woman opens her heart to her dog, her husband and son will soon be whining that the dog prefers her to them.
    The Oregonian/oregonlive, al, 3 May 2019
  • The electric screwdriver whined, stopped, and whined again.
    Addie Citchens, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
  • My kids are little and prone to whining during long hikes.
    Kerry Fischer Milch, Philly.com, 13 Oct. 2017
  • These special dates are also a time to listen to her whine and complain.
    Meghan Leahy, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Sep. 2023
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whine

2 of 2 noun
  • Lay your thumb on the maple lid, and the purr turns into a whine.
    M.d. Johnson, Field & Stream, 7 Feb. 2023
  • On the road, the pets rise at 5:30 a.m. and oink (Daisy) or whine (the pugs) until Minor wakes.
    Nora McGreevy, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Aug. 2019
  • My dad could hear the fire's approach, a sound like the high whine of a jet engine.
    Smith Henderson, Popular Mechanics, 11 Jan. 2017
  • The birds grow louder in the pines, the whine of insects audible.
    Jenna Russell, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Aug. 2019
  • Ain't nobody got time to get drunk and whine about freshmen.
    Tess Koman, Cosmopolitan, 9 Nov. 2015
  • Expect a whine from the center if someone has to sit there.
    Scott Sturgis, Philly.com, 12 July 2018
  • In fact, the fathoms are full of sound: the clicks and whines of dolphins and whales, the low rumble of distant earthquakes, the scrape of tsunamis on the seafloor.
    Hazlitt, 23 Nov. 2022
  • The world blurs; the audio whines; Joel can’t so much as flex his fingers toward his gun.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 19 Feb. 2023
  • Bullets rattled on the streets and glanced off with ugly whines.
    Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2019
  • The motor protests, in a whine, throughout uphill legs.
    Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2018
  • Pups at that age wake up every few hours to whine and paw any warm body within reach.
    James Gorman, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2017
  • So far, its players appear to prefer to win than to whine.
    Tim Sullivan, The Courier-Journal, 1 Jan. 2022
  • Perhaps one day, all the sage grouse will hear out on the lek is the quiet whine of a fembot turning its head.
    Matt Simon, WIRED, 1 June 2018
  • Some folks say the high-pitched whine gets tiresome and their inch-long length is imposing.
    Bruce Henderson, charlotteobserver, 4 May 2017
  • With the press of a green button, Sam Bruneau’s snowmobile sprung silently to life and took off at a low whine.
    Tik Root, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Feb. 2022
  • The whine of her treadmill, maybe, or the thuds and murmurs of apartment life in Macomb County, Mich.
    Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2021
  • Alleys are empty of the whine of , the snapping banners of tour guides have fallen silent.
    Tom Kington, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2020
  • Never have to hear that horrible whine of the dental drill again!
    Jennifer Welsh, Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2010
  • Then most of us wandered back to our tents to wait and listen for the whine of returning machines.
    Neil Shea, National Geographic, 21 Aug. 2019
  • Other effects include the whine of a mouth organ and slaps of piano and harp strings.
    Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 22 June 2023
  • The onstage Ball, the chess master of comic timing with the rubbery face and the first-rate whine, shows up in micro-spurts.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2021
  • The torpid silence was punctuated by the slow whine of air-raid sirens—and by crows.
    Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 2 May 2022
  • Even a daydreamy young girl had a hard time locating the divine over the glare of blacktop and the whine of power tools.
    Sara Eckel, Longreads, 1 June 2018
  • There’s never room to go wide-open for longer than a couple seconds, as the straights just vanish while the gear whine from the diffs ramps up in pitch.
    Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 17 Aug. 2022
  • Turning down the dirt runway, Zdarsky opened up the throttle, and with a fierce whine, the Skyhawk surged forward, streaking across the desert.
    Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2023
  • The dog may not continually bark, whine or pace while the handler is out of sight.
    Iris Katz, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 20 Mar. 2021
  • Keep in mind that this mini stand mixer took on a high-pitched whine when mixing dense dough types like bread dough.
    Samantha Jones, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Aug. 2022
  • Sadly, these high-pitched whines almost make Giuliani's line of rhetoric seem like progress.
    Jack Holmes, Esquire, 8 Feb. 2016
  • The scene was still eerie: the gloom, the heat, the whispering, the low, insistent whine of the jet engine, the mass of dim faces crowded so close together.
    Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2021
  • The engineers know every bolt and obscure whine from the engine room.
    Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, 31 May 2016

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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