to cry out for help
7
2.7
- phrasal verb
:
gritar pidiendo ayuda
- When my parents went up to investigate, they claimed to hear screams and a voice crying out for help.
- heard him cry out for help
- want to cry out for help
- people crying out for help
Examples
-
We can choose to stay where we are and drown in our emotions, or we can cry out for help.
Blog text (8) -
He's crying out for help.
-
So I still cry out for help.
Blog text (25) -
But one time, it came to me as a little girl, crying out for help.
-
"Sometimes people are crying out for help."
Fiction book (1994) -
People who talk about it are crying out for help.
Blog text (1) -
This poor soul... cried out for help.
-
He wanted to cry out for help.
Fiction book (1995) -
She could be crying out for help right here right now.
-
In the dark alley, I heard a child cry out for help as he was lost and afraid.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make a loud sound to get attention
∞
1.0
To make a loud high cry because of fear or pain
∞
1.0
To shout loudly because you feel strong pain, anger or excitement
108
1.8
Shout loudly to show a strong feeling, for example when surprised or hurt
100
2.7
To make a serious request for help or support
59
1.6
To ask loudly for help in an emergency
2
8.0
Shout loudly to get attention or call someone
1
1.0
Call out loudly to ask someone to come to you when you are in danger
1
3.0
Make a loud high sound by blowing through your lips to call for help
Antonyms
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'cry' (call out loudly) + 'out' (audibly outward) + 'for help' (seeking assistance) combine to yield the literal sense of shouting to get assistance. This verb + particle + prepositional phrase pattern is common and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Cry out for help comes from the simple picture of someone in danger who would loudly cry out 'help' to get attention. So the phrase means to shout urgently to ask others to help.