SOS


  1. the letters represented by the radio telegraphic signal (· · · – – – · · ·) used, especially by ships in distress, as an internationally recognized call for help.

noun
  1. any call for help: We sent out an SOS for more typists.

verb (used without object)
  1. to send an SOS.

Origin of SOS

1
First recorded in 1905–10; from the Morse code alphabet, in which three dots (or short clicks) represents the letter S and three dashes (or long clicks) represents the letter O

Other definitions for SOS (2 of 3)

SOS

abbreviationSlang.
  1. shit on a shingle (a euphemistic initialism used to avoid explicit vulgarity).

Other definitions for s.o.s. (3 of 3)

s.o.s.

abbreviation
  1. (in prescriptions) if necessary.

Origin of s.o.s.

3
From Latin sī opus sit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use SOS in a sentence

  • To see us all here tonight, who would dream of the parting to come so soon-n; s-o s-o-o-o-on-n!

  • Mysteriously, without warning, they had vanished; without a single S O S being sent, seven freighters had been lost.

  • Can you link the power, or whatever you call it, up with the sending paraphernalia and get an S O S over the water?

  • Had we not heard him say that the signal was to be an S O S sent, as it were, from the fleet far out on the ocean?

    The Social Gangster | Arthur B. Reeve
  • Within an hour after you left they had it assembled and were cranking out S O S signals.

    The Space Rover | Edwin K. Sloat

British Dictionary definitions for SOS

SOS

noun
  1. an internationally recognized distress signal in which the letters SOS are repeatedly spelt out, as by radio-telegraphy: used esp by ships and aircraft

  2. a message broadcast in an emergency for people otherwise unobtainable

  1. informal a call for help

Origin of SOS

1
C20: letters chosen as the simplest to transmit and receive in Morse code; by folk etymology taken to be an abbreviation for save our souls

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012