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Glite Dictionary
😭 A crying sound 😭 To cry hard
sob

sob

74 1.0
A short, noisy breath made when you cry
  • noun
  • /sɑb/
: sollozo
  • Hornbeck allowed himself a small sob, but once that passed his lips, the dam behind it shook loose.

And just like the that kind of crying of the kind of the heaving sobs.

Examples

  • When Grandma shook with hidden sobs, Dad took her hand.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The child's sobs filled the air after he scraped his knee on the pavement.

  • No one could have heard a single sob, guilty and base.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Suddenly, the awful injustice of man to man brought a dry sob to her throat.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "Before Brian could speak, she was rushing down the hall, her sobs trailing behind her."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • As Margaret brought the cloth to her mother's face, the sobs that were waiting in her chest came rushing out.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Margaret started to cry: huge, gulping sobs that shook her whole body.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Eventually, her tempest of misery began to die down to individual sobs and sniffs.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • As she lay there, sobs were wrenched from her, shaking her in an abandonment of grief.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Lifted on stage, she kneels at Xuxa's feet and sobs as she professes her devotion to the star.

    Academic text (1998)

Synonyms

cry
vssob
260 1.0

A time when someone has tears because they feel sad or upset

is a short convulsive catching of breath rather than a whole session
sobbing
vssob
69 1.0

Short gasping sounds someone makes while crying loudly

is a single convulsive catching of breath instead of repeated gasps

Compounds

sob story
  • Informal
16 4.9

A story often exaggerated that tries to make people feel sorry for personal problems

sob sister
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A journalist who writes emotional newspaper stories to make readers feel sorry

sob stuff
  • Archaic
8.5

Words or stories meant to make people feel pity by showing personal suffering

How Intense

wail
54 3.2
sob
74 1.0
cry
260 1.0
sniffle
45 3.4

Surface Forms

sob singular
sobs plural

Etymology

The word sob copies the short, gasping sound people make when they cry, so a sob is a sudden 'gasp' of the breath that often comes with tears.