"cry for help" meaning in English

See cry for help in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-cry for help.ogg [Australia] Forms: cries for help [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|cries for help}} cry for help (plural cries for help)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cry, for, help. Translations (cry for help): avunhuuto (Finnish), appel à l'aide [masculine] (French), wołanie o pomoc [neuter] (Polish), petición de ayuda [feminine] (Spanish), llamado de socorro [masculine] (Spanish), llamamiento de auxilio [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-cry_for_help-en-noun-4BQigvew Disambiguation of 'cry for help': 66 34
  2. (idiomatic) Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help. Tags: idiomatic Translations (acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help): hätähuuto (Finnish), appel à l'aide [masculine] (French), wołanie o uwagę [neuter] (Polish), feryat (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-cry_for_help-en-noun-XapAfq50 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Turkish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 5 95 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 13 87 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 5 95 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 5 95 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 84 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 20 80 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 11 89 Disambiguation of Terms with Turkish translations: 17 83 Disambiguation of 'acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help': 2 98

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cries for help",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cries for help"
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      "expansion": "cry for help (plural cries for help)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "text": "We heard the drowning woman's cries for help and ran to assist.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cry, for, help."
      ],
      "id": "en-cry_for_help-en-noun-4BQigvew",
      "links": [
        [
          "cry",
          "cry#English"
        ],
        [
          "for",
          "for#English"
        ],
        [
          "help",
          "help#English"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "word": "avunhuuto"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "appel à l'aide"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "wołanie o pomoc"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "petición de ayuda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "llamado de socorro"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "cry for help",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "llamamiento de auxilio"
        }
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "5 95",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "13 87",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "5 95",
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          "_dis": "5 95",
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          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Turkish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
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      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              143,
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            ]
          ],
          "text": "In her second year at the school Alexis stopped doing her homework and would often scribble on walls. Her teachers wondered whether this was a cry for help, or if she was simply misbehaving.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              130,
              142
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, quoting Tucker Carlson, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help."
      ],
      "id": "en-cry_for_help-en-noun-XapAfq50",
      "links": [
        [
          "Acting out",
          "act out"
        ],
        [
          "subconscious",
          "subconscious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
          "word": "hätähuuto"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "appel à l'aide"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "wołanie o uwagę"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "lang_code": "tr",
          "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
          "word": "feryat"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-cry for help.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4b/En-au-cry_for_help.ogg/En-au-cry_for_help.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/En-au-cry_for_help.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cry for help"
}
{
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Turkish translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cries for help",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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              30,
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          "type": "example"
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      ],
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          "type": "example"
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            ]
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          "text": "Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.",
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        "Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help."
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        "(idiomatic) Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help."
      ],
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        "idiomatic"
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  "sounds": [
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/En-au-cry_for_help.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "word": "avunhuuto"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "appel à l'aide"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "wołanie o pomoc"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "petición de ayuda"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "llamado de socorro"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "cry for help",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "llamamiento de auxilio"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
      "word": "hätähuuto"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "appel à l'aide"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "wołanie o uwagę"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "lang_code": "tr",
      "sense": "acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help",
      "word": "feryat"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cry for help"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cry for help meaning in English (3.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.