to cry uncle
1
8.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
rendirse
- The children begged for a break from the game until one finally cried uncle and sat down.
And they do that until you cry uncle, right?
- And they do that until you cry uncle, right?
- Because you can imagine Putin and the net and, and the Russian state not wanting to appear to, to cry uncle to this pressure.
Examples
-
Sometimes people just don't know when to cry "uncle."
Blog text (24) -
A few months after I left Nicaragua, they cried uncle and voted the Sandinistas out of office.
Academic text (2007) -
Because you can imagine Putin and the net and, and the Russian state not wanting to appear to, to cry uncle to this pressure.
-
I was absolutely shocked at the threshold that I had to cry uncle.
-
You are entitled to no more than the rhetorical equivalent of an ice pick in the kidneys until you either cry "Uncle" or withdraw.
Blog text (18) -
The formula is thus attainable in a way that simply pressuring the Iranians into crying "uncle" is not.
Academic text (2013) -
There is a difference between someone like Carreon starting a fight and then crying uncle when he's getting pummeled and a group of people who are starting out from a position of power.
Blog text (28) -
In public and congressional discussion, the sweeping and unrelenting nature of sanctions against Iran has come to be treated as an end in itself, with almost no attention to exactly how the sanctions relate to Iranian concessions beyond a simple notion that the Iranians ought to give up and cry "uncle."
Academic text (2013) -
Daniel Ortega would not surrender to the contras or "cry uncle" to the United States—as Reagan had demanded—but he was a man in search of an exit.
Academic text (1991) -
After struggling for hours to fix the car, I finally cried uncle and called for help.
Synonyms
49
4.9
To accept that you have lost a contest or election
29
4.9
Stop trying because you cannot win
27
4.8
To stop trying because you know you cannot succeed
23
8.4
To stop fighting back and accept defeat or demands
9
5.7
To accept being wrong to make peace or get help
4
4.0
To stop trying and accept that you lost
2
8.9
To give up because of pressure or pain
To stop trying because it seems pointless
To give in easily when under pressure
Antonyms
How Resistant
22
3.7
311
2.2
107
3.7
- Informal
1
8.8
∞
1.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
cry + uncle
The meaning 'to admit defeat or surrender' is not derivable from the literal constituents: 'cry' (to shout) plus 'uncle' (a family relation) gives no transparent cue to surrender. This is an idiomatic, culturally rooted phrase whose sense is unpredictable without prior exposure, so a B1 learner who knows the words would likely not infer the meaning.
Etymology
The idiom cry uncle may come from children's rough games, where a child held by another would cry uncle to make the other stop. That's why today it means 'to admit defeat' or 'to give up'.