Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of whinny
Chris Torres, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Jan. 2026
McCaffrey is whinnying as the workhorse.
—Brad Evans, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
The downy woodpecker also whinnies like a miniature horse throughout the breeding season.
—Sheryl De Vore, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2025
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth is one of the oldest proverbs known to humankind, whinnying back at least 1,500 years.
—Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 May 2024
That doesn’t include food for the horses, who start whinnying.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024
Kenny was large for his age, with a flat, flabby face and a high, whinnying voice.
—Aryn Kyle, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
Some unidentified whinnying joins the cacophony that accompanies gentrification—brash and brazen, with a total disregard for anything other than its own bullish desire.
—Rebecca Haithcoat, GQ, 5 June 2018
The 10-year-old mare bucked, whinnied, and galloped, sensing the pride of victory.
—Mitchell Gladstone, Philly.com, 2 June 2018
Luca Evans, Denver Post, 23 July 2025
Wild ponies, svelte & savage, graze in dune grasses, whinny, yawn.
—J.t. Townley, The New York Review of Books, 6 Mar. 2025
This works, Brian says, and leans back against the wall, the dog panting less, the faint whinny of a horse, an airplane.
—Paul Yoon, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2024
One of the horses fell on its side, its high whinny like a human scream.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2022
Laughter punctuates the exaggerated whinnies, proving that the source is not in fact a horse.
—Kalyn Kahler, SI.com, 11 June 2018
But the methodical, meditative act of grooming a horse — brush, brush, brush — and the smell of hay and the gentle whinnies from the 1,200-pound creature have been therapy for Alger.
—Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 17 May 2018
Animal grunts and growls, horse neighs and whinnies.
—Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Apr. 2018
An astonishing collection of laughs — whinnies, giggles, squeals, snorts, heaves — gradually colors the narrative, until this seemingly harmless man becomes, in effect, not just a witness to savagery, but also an accessory.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2018
Verb
Waffles, patient and unbothered as onlookers walked around and stopped to gaze, nickered as another horse on the other side of the massive stalls whinnied.
—Noun
The offseason came and went with little more than a few contract whinnies from Bronco ringleaders.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for whinny
Verb
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Across from them in their usual stalls stood the eight neighing horses.—
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The band joked about adding a neighing horse to the intro, and Rimes quickly inserted that sound from his plug-in collection.—
Noun
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This not-quite-title song, which is nearly eight minutes long, is a sort of mini-suite, opening with a dog barking, giving way to an acoustic-guitar melody accompanying polyphonic vocals, then becoming electric and crashingly alive, until the relentless screech of a guitar drags you to the end.—
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As the band blares, Georgia fans bark for the Dawgs and Alabama faithful screech Roll Tide.—
Verb
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Waffles, patient and unbothered as onlookers walked around and stopped to gaze, nickered as another horse on the other side of the massive stalls whinnied.—
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The soldiers muttered encouragement; their horses nickered.—
Noun
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For the record, actor Henry Travers pronounces the word library in a desperate squeal.—
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The duo jumped and screamed in celebration, with their dogs joining the fun with a few barks and squeals.—
Noun
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Late that afternoon, Flint was sitting quietly against his tree and using a Primos can call to make bleats.—
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Lewis Black’s rant against protein Doritos was classic Gen-X complaining, the kind of thing Denis Leary used to bleat between music videos on MTV back when MTV had music videos and not just endless reruns of pre-unionization Ridiculousness.—
Noun
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However, after 40 minutes, the pilot turned back to Birmingham after issuing the 7700 squawk emergency code over the French coast, Daily Express reported.—
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There are times when squawk is not used to communicate aircraft information, like during military operations.—
Noun
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My father mistakes it for the verb to bray, like a donkey.—
Noun
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An onboard synthesizer manipulates a small set of core sounds to mimic everything from the roar of a jet plane to the flushing of a toilet through a little speaker in the Brick.—
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The people want to see Varang’s fierce roars!—
Cite this Entry
“Whinny.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whinny. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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