harrumph
verb
har·rumph hə-ˈrəm(p)f 
harrumphed; harrumphing; harrumphs
intransitive verb
1
: to clear the throat in a pompous way
2
: to comment disapprovingly
transitive verb
: to utter (a comment) disapprovingly
harrumph noun
Example Sentences
“These charges are absurd,” he harrumphed. They stood around harrumphing about the current state of politics.
Recent Examples on the Web That number started dropping in the 1980s and has fallen since, prompting old-timers to harrumph at what slackers these lazy kids are. 
Washington Post, 28 June 2021 That’s why the person harrumphing new usage quickly becomes the one sounding uneducated. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2020 Jenkins suggests that this was disingenuous, and that old Charles had reasons for harrumphing away what young Charles may have absorbed in Edinburgh. David Quammen, The New York Review of Books, 8 Apr. 2020 Bobbie Bell is delightful as Scrooge — snarling, bristling and just generally harrumphing with flair. Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 3 Dec. 2019 This also gives me a chance to harrumph at the dad for using his wife as a prop. Carolyn Hax, Detroit Free Press, 27 July 2019 The style was jarringly different, and some old-school critics harrumphed. Neil Genzlinger, BostonGlobe.com, 19 June 2019 By the 1930s the grande dame was already becoming an archetype—the stock character duchess harrumphing through Agatha Christie mysteries and screwball comedies, clinging to a bygone era. Sadie Stein, Town & Country, 20 Sep. 2016 Hill harrumphed when umpire Mike Winters declined to award him a strike on a full-count curveball at the top of the zone. Andy Mccullough, latimes.com, 29 May 2017 See More
Washington Post, 28 June 2021 That’s why the person harrumphing new usage quickly becomes the one sounding uneducated. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2020 Jenkins suggests that this was disingenuous, and that old Charles had reasons for harrumphing away what young Charles may have absorbed in Edinburgh. David Quammen, The New York Review of Books, 8 Apr. 2020 Bobbie Bell is delightful as Scrooge — snarling, bristling and just generally harrumphing with flair. Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 3 Dec. 2019 This also gives me a chance to harrumph at the dad for using his wife as a prop. Carolyn Hax, Detroit Free Press, 27 July 2019 The style was jarringly different, and some old-school critics harrumphed. Neil Genzlinger, BostonGlobe.com, 19 June 2019 By the 1930s the grande dame was already becoming an archetype—the stock character duchess harrumphing through Agatha Christie mysteries and screwball comedies, clinging to a bygone era. Sadie Stein, Town & Country, 20 Sep. 2016 Hill harrumphed when umpire Mike Winters declined to award him a strike on a full-count curveball at the top of the zone. Andy Mccullough, latimes.com, 29 May 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
imitative
First Known Use
1942, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1