crying

C2+ Topic:Mind & Cognition

US /ˈkraɪɪŋ/ UK /ˈkraɪɪŋ/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
demanding urgent attention; flagrant

There is a crying need for clean water in the region.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · demanding urgent attention;... flagrant glaring urgent pressing blatant egregious

Opposites

trivial negligible minor

Word family

Related forms cry

Etymology

Present participle of 'cry', from Old French 'crier' ('to call out, shout'), from Vulgar Latin '*critāre', from Latin 'quirītāre' ('to wail, shriek').

crier Old French quirītāre Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Mind & Cognition Word Formation & Derivatives

# crying

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈkraɪɪŋ
**IPA (UK):** ˈkraɪɪŋ

## Meanings
1. demanding urgent attention; flagrant

## Examples
- There is a crying need for clean water in the region.

## Synonyms
- flagrant
- glaring
- urgent
- pressing
- blatant
- egregious

## Antonyms
- trivial
- negligible
- minor

## Related Forms
- cry

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: crier
- Root: quirītāre

## Etymology
Present participle of 'cry', from Old French 'crier' ('to call out, shout'), from Vulgar Latin '*critāre', from Latin 'quirītāre' ('to wail, shriek').

## AI Etymology
Crying is the present participle of 'cry', from Old French 'crier' ('to call out, shout'), from Vulgar Latin '*critāre', from Latin 'quirītāre' ('to wail, shriek'). The ancestry passes through Old French crier and Latin quirītāre. In present use as adjective and noun, it means "demanding urgent attention; flagrant", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include cry. Its contrast set includes trivial, negligible, and minor, which clarifies the semantic boundary of the modern word.

## Topics
- Mind & Cognition
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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crying

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