cry for

Idioms  

1. Also, cry out for; have a crying need for. Be in urgent need of, as in This wall cries for a second coat of paint, or This car is crying out for a good washing, or There is a crying need for order in this house. The figurative use of cry for, literally meaning “implore” or “weep for,” dates from the late 1500s, as does the use of crying for “demanding attention.” The first variant, alluding to actually shouting out one's needs or desires, dates from the second half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Karli was crying then, crying for our burning home, and maybe also for the trees we were leaving behind, that could not run away.

From Literature

"I will go to all the friends and family I will never see again, and lay flowers and tell them: 'I remember you always, and I cry for you.'"

From BBC

I sounded like a toddler crying for their mother.

From Literature

I could hear Patch crying for me a little longer.

From Literature

Not especially popular in life, he appears to have become, in death, a rallying cry for defiance.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ask
• beseech
• recite
• urge