noun
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a widespread or vehement protest
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clamour; uproar
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commerce a method of trading in which dealers shout out bids and offers at a prearranged meeting
sale by open outcry
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of outcry
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at out-, cry
Explanation
An outcry is an outburst or shout — either by one person, or by a group of people. Faced with the outcry of three kids under the age of ten, a frustrated babysitter may give in, letting them stay up past bedtime. When a teacher promises his class a pizza party at the end of the week, he can expect an outcry if the pizzas don't show up on Friday. This kind of outcry is a form of protest, a group of angry or passionate people raising their voices together. The older, fourteenth century meaning of outcry is simply "crying out." The "public protest" meaning was first used around 1910.
Vocabulary lists containing outcry
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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.
See Examples For:
The European Union's central data regulator on Tuesday said smart glasses should give "clear warnings" when they are recording, after a public outcry in recent months over secretly filmed footage of girls and women.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Then this September, news of the civil suit broke, sparking a wave of outcry on social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
A prison compound in Indonesia has been demolished after public outcry following the discovery of luxury apartments within the penitentiary.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
A series of high-profile attacks that began in mid-July has drawn international outcry and rare condemnation from Israel’s leaders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
There was a general outcry of that’s not fair.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Such public outcries and legal challenges are likely to follow in the other nations preparing to pass their own age-verification mandates—and that’s exactly where the energy needs to be directed.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2026
When the airline shed its plastic boarding passes, or its row-facing-row lounge seating, there were minor outcries, Jordan said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
When immigration agents followed two women through an L.A. courthouse last month and arrested them, it drew outcries from nearly all corners of L.A.’s legal community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2025
The Walla Walla High School media specialist spent 15 months defending the school library against public outcries for removal of books, their dismissal and hostile board meetings.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
For some moments Taran heard nothing but a confusion of voices, angry outcries and bickering, with Eiddileg trying to shout above them.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
"This triggered the victim's memory and he immediately outcried to his parents."
From Chicago Tribune ● Jun. 27, 2014
"After the St. John's County Sheriff's Office investigated one of their own, my family outcried along with the public to get an outside investigation," Crites said.
From Reuters ● Apr. 24, 2014
How can I live to die some other tide, And, dying, hear my loveless name outcried About the portals of that weary land Whereby my shadowy feet should come to stand.
From The Earthly Paradise A Poem by William Morris
In that announcement she outcried the stream, and through the comparative quietness that followed a hideous noise rumbled and shrieked upwards from the hollow.
From Moor Fires by E. H. (Emily Hilda) Young
I think the woman in Thee outcried the man.'
From The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay by Maurice Henry Hewlett
It would die down for an instant, in response to these appeals, only to burst out afresh as certain groups of traders started the pandemonium again, by the wild outcrying of their offers.
From The Pit by Frank Norris
There was a great outcrying and trembling of hearts at the farm-house when Donald and Elspie appeared in this sorry plight of torn and burned clothes, blackened faces, scorched and singed hair.
From Between Whiles by Helen Hunt Jackson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
