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Glite Dictionary
to cry foul

to cry foul

11 5.6
Complain loudly in public that a decision is unfair
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : protestar
  • After the controversial penalty call, the players began to cry foul about the referee's decision.
  • cry foul, saying
  • cry foul and accusing
  • opponents cry foul

Examples

  • I too was going to cry foul on that comment, but I can see the point.

    Blog text (2)

  • Many, many page administrators cried foul, feeling that this was an intentional tactic by Facebook to decrease reach.

    Blog text (8)

  • The players used to be the ones who cried foul play at the owners; has the table turned now?

    Blog text (24)

  • Joe Simon was shocked and cried foul, but a deal was a deal.

    Blog text (6)

  • Secessionists are not the only ones crying foul.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Today, the guys who are crying foul are the brick-and-mortar shops.

    Blog text (4)

  • Several Facebook page managers are crying foul at decreased fan counts and lowered levels of engagement.

    Blog text (25)

  • It will take communities of people, you know, crying foul and saying this, this sort of stuff shouldn't fly.

  • An accredited investor is on his own when an investment sours and cannot cry foul to a regulatory agency.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Now the Fraternal Order of Police cries foul about Josey getting fired before an investigation is complete.

    Blog text (15)

Synonyms

to make a stink
vsto cry foul
  • Informal
4 6.8

Complain loudly in public to get attention

calls out unfairness publicly especially in competition
to raise a stink
vsto cry foul
2 7.4

To complain loudly and make people notice the problem

alleges unfairness in contests or games rather than general protest
to fulminate
vsto cry foul
  • Formal
1 9.0

To speak or write very angrily against something to show strong criticism

focuses on publicly protesting unfair acts in competitive settings
to voice a grievance
vsto cry foul
  • Formal
6.3

To express a complaint or concern, often publicly

is more about noisy public accusation in unfair competitive situations

Antonyms

to accept
∞ 3.5

To tolerate an unpleasant situation without complaining

to endorse
183 4.2

To publicly show support for a person or idea

How Protesting

to protest
283 3.2
to cry foul
11 5.6
to accuse
∞ 2.7
to object
349 5.1
to complain
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

cry foul infinitive
cried foul past
cried foul past participle
crying foul present participle
cries foul third person singular

Morphology

cry + foul

The literal parts ('cry' = call out; 'foul' = a rule-breaking action) give a clear sports-related image (to call out that a foul occurred), so learners who know both words can often guess the basic sense. However, the broader idiomatic use (to complain loudly or accuse of unfairness in non-sport contexts) is a conventionalized extension that is not fully predictable from the parts, making the expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrase cry foul comes from games and sports, where players or fans shout foul when a rule is broken. To cry foul means to loudly say something is 'unfair' or to complain in public, so the picture of shouting foul explains why it now means a public complaint about unfairness.