cry
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Utter aloud; also, shed tears because.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kryIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹaɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Utter a sudden loud cry
Utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
transitive
To utter loudly; to call out; to declare publicly.
Utter a characteristic sound
Shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain
intransitive
To shed tears; to weep, especially in anger or sadness.
noun
A shedding of tears; the act of crying.
A shout or scream.
A clamour or outcry.
of an animal
A typical sound made by the species in question.
The characteristic utterance of an animal
A desperate or urgent request.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Utter a sudden loud cry
Used this way, cry is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use cry
- “Before we had newspapers, a town crier would cry the news.”verb
- “This situation is crying for attention.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: utter a sudden loud cry
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.