Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

crying

/ˈkɹaɪ̯.ɪŋ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English

Syllables: cry-ing
IPA: /ˈkɹaɪ̯.ɪŋ/

12

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

That cries.

adj

That demands action or attention; desperate.

adj

That deserves rebuke or censure; deplorable.

noun

The act of one who cries; a weeping or shouting.

Countable; Uncountable

verb

present participle and gerund of cry

Example Sentences

"The crying child on the street was evidently lost."
"There is a crying need for more manual workers in this country."
"It is a crying shame that he managed to get away with that!"
"Their constant cryings kept us awake!"
"[…] their breathings, cryings, and excretings would have been damaged […]"

Etymology

From cry + -ing.

Usage

Inflected Forms

cryings (plural)

Derived Forms

cryingly uncrying

Phrases

asymmetric crying facies crying room

Synonyms

in tears sobbing weeping crying sobful tearful egregious flagrant glaring gross rank

Antonyms

cheering laughing smiling uncrying untearful unweeping

Rhymes With

trying buying flying lying dying applying underlying denying relying supplying drying tying

Questions

How do you pronounce crying?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈkɹaɪ̯.ɪŋ/.
What does crying mean?: That cries.
Where does crying come from?: From cry + -ing.

How to pronounce crying

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “crying”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈkɹaɪ̯.ɪŋ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “crying”.
Repeat and practice — Say “crying” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.