different between cry vs decry

English

Etymology

From Middle English crien, from Old French crier (“to announce publicly, proclaim, scream, shout”) (whence Medieval Latin cr?d? (“to cry out, shout, publish, proclaim”)), from Frankish *kr?tan (“to cry, cry out, publish”), from Proto-Germanic *kr?tan? (“to cry out, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *greyd- (“to shout”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian kriete (“to cry”), Dutch krijten (“to cry”) and krijsen (“to shriek”), German Low German krieten (“to cry, call out, shriek”), German kreißen (“to cry loudly, wail, groan”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (kreitan, “to cry, scream, call out”), Latin gingr?tus (“the cackling of geese”), Middle Irish grith (“a cry”), Welsh gryd (“a scream”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?a??/
• Homophone: krai
• Rhymes: -a?

Verb

cry (third-person singular simple present cries, present participle crying, simple past and past participle cried)

1. (intransitive) To shed tears; to weep.
2. (transitive) To utter loudly; to call out; to declare publicly.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To shout, scream, yell.
4. (intransitive) To utter inarticulate sounds, as animals do.
5. (transitive) To cause to do something, or bring to some state, by crying or weeping.

6. To make oral and public proclamation of; to notify or advertise by outcry, especially things lost or found, goods to be sold, etc.
   • 1652, Richard Crashaw, The Beginning of Heliodorus

     Love is lost, and thus she cries him.

7. Hence, to publish the banns of, as for marriage.
   • 1845, Sylvester Judd, Margaret: A Tale of the Real and the Ideal, Blight and Bloom; Including Sketches of a Place Not Before Described, Called Mons Christi

     I should not be surprised if they were cried in church next Sabbath.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• bawl
• blubber
• sob
• wail
• weep
• whimper
• See also Thesaurus:weep
• See also Thesaurus:shout

Antonyms

• laugh

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

cry (plural cries)

1. A shedding of tears; the act of crying.

   After we broke up, I retreated to my room for a good cry.

2. A shout or scream.

   I heard a cry from afar.

3. Words shouted or screamed.

   a battle cry

4. A clamour or outcry.
5. (collectively) A group of hounds.
   • 1667, Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, in Edward Hawkins, The Poetical Works of John Milton: With Notes of Various Authors, Vol. I, W. Baxter, J. Parker, G. B. Whittaker (publs., 1824) pages 124 to 126, lines 648 to 659.

6. (by extension, obsolete, derogatory) A pack or company of people.
7. (of an animal) A typical sound made by the species in question.

   "Woof" is the cry of a dog, while "neigh" is the cry of a horse.
8. A desperate or urgent request.
9. (obsolete) Common report; gossip.

Derived terms

• battle cry
• hue and cry
• war cry

Translations

See also

• breastfeeding
• crocodile tears

References

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “cry”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• cry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• cry in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Cyr, Cyr., RYC

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French cri.

Noun

cry m (plural crys)

1. cry; shout

Descendants

• French: cri

Scots

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French crier.

Verb

cry (third-person singular present cries, present participle cryin, past cried, past participle cried)

1. to call, to give a name to
   • A body whit studies the history is cried a historian an aw.

English

Etymology

From Old French descrier (“to shout”), from des- (“out, away, off, down”) + crier (“to cry”); see cry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??k?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Verb

decry (third-person singular simple present decries, present participle decrying, simple past and past participle decried)

1. (transitive) To denounce as harmful.
   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg. 99:

     All of us seem to need some totalistic relationships in our lives. But to decry the fact that we cannot have only such relationships is nonsense.

   • 1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, Bantam Books, pg. 474:

     While decrying bureaucracy and demanding participatory democracy they, themselves, frequently attempt to manipulate the very group of workers, blacks or students on whose behalf they demand participation.

2. (transitive) To blame for ills.

Translations

References

• Chambers's Etymological Dictionary, 1896, p. 114
• decry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• decry in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• decry at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• cedry, cyder