outcry

English

Etymology

From Middle English outcry, outcri, outcrye, equivalent to out- +‎ cry. The verb is from Middle English outcrien.

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK, US) enPR: outʹkrī, IPA^(key): /ˈaʊtkɹaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: out-krīʹ, IPA^(key): /aʊtˈkɹaɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

outcry (countable and uncountable, plural outcries)

1. (countable, uncountable) A loud cry or uproar.

   His appearance was greeted with an outcry of jeering.

2. (figuratively) A strong protest.

   The proposal was met with a public outcry.

   • 1961 March, “Talking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 134:

     The Western Region has sought approval for the withdrawal of passenger services between Ashchurch Junction and Upton-on-Severn. There was a proposal to withdraw the trains as long ago as 1951, but an outcry from Tewkesbury that it would suffer as a tourist centre secured a reprieve.

   • 2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 43:

     This is a scorched earth policy, leaving Labour - which has made the right noises, but not loudly enough - with the job of picking up the pieces. Given the incoherence of the plans, the best hope is that the public outcry - even the Daily Telegraph is against them - delays them enough for a new government to rescue most of the ticket offices from closure, but this is no way to run a railway.

3. (India, archaic, countable, uncountable) An auction.

   to send goods to an outcry

Derived terms

• open outcry

 

Translations

uproar — see also uproar

• Bengali: চিল্লানি (bn) (cillani)
• Bulgarian: викове (bg) m pl (vikove), глъчка (bg) f (glǎčka)
• German: Schrei (de) m
• Maori: rarī, tararau

strong protest

• Bulgarian: протест (bg) m (protest)
• French: levée de boucliers (fr) f, tollé (fr) m
• German: Aufschrei (de) m, Sturm der Entrüstung m
• Italian: protesta (it) f
• Korean: 외침 (ko) (oechim)
• Maori: tautohenga
• Ottoman Turkish: خلاش (hılaş)
• Russian: (обще́ственный) проте́ст (ru) m (protést)
• Spanish: protesta (es) f

Verb

outcry (third-person singular simple present outcries, present participle outcrying, simple past and past participle outcried)

1. (intransitive) To cry out.
   • 1919, Debates in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918: Volume 1:

     I think any man who outcries against the power of the government in Germany soon ceases to cry at all, because he is crushed.

2. (transitive) To cry louder than.
   • 2003, Melvyn Bragg, Crossing the Lines, page 355:

     […] outcrying the clacking of train wheels, the shrill of the whistle […]

   • 2007, Anthony Dalton, Alone Against the Arctic, page 104:

     The dogs added their voices to the din, howling for hours, each trying to outcry the others.

Anagrams

• cry out