parrot cry

noun

A shout which is mindlessly or mechanically repeated.

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Meanings

nounparrot cry (plural parrot cries)

plural parrot cries

  1. A shout which is mindlessly or mechanically repeated.

    Michael Portillo as shadow chancellor will immediately leap up with the parrot-cry: "Labour always increases taxes and often invents new ones".

    2001 August 6, Roy Hattersley, The Guardian
    1 more example

    Parrot cries for silence on delicate political issues sounded increasingly archaic – and were quite unable to stem the rising tide of parlementary critique.

    2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 265

Origin

From the tendency of parrots to repeat words they have heard.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

parrot cry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20cry

MLA

“parrot cry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20cry. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parrot cry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parrot%20cry.

Source: parrot cry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.