Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Outcry for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Welcome. Today's word is 'outcry' — a noun.
Narrator: Pronounced OUT-cry, IPA /ˈaʊt.kraɪ/.
Narrator: An outcry is a strong expression of public protest, anger, or disapproval — a collective voice raised loudly against something unjust.
Narrator: Combines out, meaning publicly outward, and cry — to shout. An outcry is literally a shouting out.
Narrator: Historically used in auction contexts — the outcry was the auctioneer calling bids. By the nineteenth century it became collective public protest.
Narrator: Today an outcry can be physical — crowds in the street — or digital — petitions, angry posts, comment sections.
Narrator: Outcry implies a reaction that is difficult to ignore — significant in scale and impossible to dismiss.
Narrator: Register is serious and formal. It signals a significant number of people feel strongly.
Narrator: An outcry is society finding its voice — loudly.
Speaker A: There was a huge public outcry when the council closed the library — ten thousand signatures in one day.
Speaker B: Outcry implies collective, sustained, visible protest. Not a few complaints — thousands reacting together.
Speaker A: Difference between outcry and uproar?
Speaker B: Uproar is immediate and noisy. Outcry is sustained and purposeful — organised protest that can force policy change.
Speaker A: And backlash?
Speaker B: Backlash is a negative reaction against something previously popular. Outcry is about injustice or wrong-doing specifically.
Speaker A: Mistakes to avoid?
Speaker B: Don't use outcry for minor complaints. And it's uncountable in some forms — a public outcry, not a public outcries.
Speaker B: Outcry in AI prompts — detecting strong collective protest, alert systems, sentiment monitoring tools. Five prompts.
Speaker A: Outcry in a prompt — detect collective protest at threshold, make it visible, require a visible response.
Outcry — meaning in Arabic & definition More O courses GL Dictionary