distress call
noun
Simple meaning
An internationally recognized signal sent out by a ship or plane indicating that help is needed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihstrehskawlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪstˈɹɛskɔl
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.
noun
An internationally recognized signal sent out by a ship or plane indicating that help is needed
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: An internationally recognized signal sent out by a ship or plane indicating that help is needed
Used this way, distress call is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “distress call” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.