cry out

present singular third person cries out · participle present crying out · participle past cried out · past cried out

1. To shout or speak in a loud voice, due to pain, fear or unhappiness.

   Do you cry out in your sleep?

   1979, Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart

   3 more examples

   Vſurers, you are none of theſe cryers vnto God, but thoſe that hourely vnto God are most cryde out againſt. God hath cryde out vnto you by his Preachers, GOD hath cride out vnto you by the poore ; Pryſoners on their death-beds haue cride out of you : and when they haue had but one houre to interceſſionate for their ſoules, and ſue out the pardon of their numberleſſe ſins, the whole of that howre (ſauing one minute, when in two words they cryde for mercy,) haue they ſpent, in crying for vengeance againſt you.

   1593, Thomas Nash, Christs Teares Over Iervsalem. Whereunto is annexed a comparatiue admonition to London., London: Thomas Thorp, published 1613, →OCLC, page 105; republished as Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem: Whereunto is Annexed A comparative Admonition to London, 1815, page 97

   At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree.

   1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus

   The 20 miles [from Okehampton] to Bere Alston, via the growing town of Tavistock, is crying out to be reopened for many reasons, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. Returning just the six miles from Bere Alston to Tavistock has been mooted, but again it seems to be going nowhere very slowly.

   2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 47

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shout

2. To need.

   Your book cries out to be edited.