distress call
Americannoun
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a prearranged communication code sign indicating that the sender is in a situation of peril, distress, or the like, as SOS, Mayday, etc.
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a communication prompted by or indicating distress.
The hospital sent out distress calls for all available stocks of the antitoxin.
Etymology
Origin of distress call
First recorded in 1910–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even before a less-than-successful promotional push for “American Girl” led Day to make a distress call to her manager, “we both knew the conversation was coming,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
According to the Indian Navy, a distress call from the Iranian warship was picked up by Colombo in the early hours of 4 March, triggering a regional search-and-rescue effort.
From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026
The boat, loaded with more than 200 people, made a distress call overnight Wednesday to Thursday near the North Bank region.
From Barron's • Jan. 2, 2026
The Irish Coast Guard received a distress call from a Royal Navy support vessel before 09:00 on Saturday.
From BBC • Nov. 16, 2025
The prompt manner in which Congress responded in the late winter of 1911 to a distress call in behalf of the starving elk, is beyond all ordinary terms of praise.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
