Question 1

What does "cry out for" mean?

Accepted Answer

To be in obvious and urgent need of something; to require something desperately.

Question 2

How do you use "cry out for" in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

This city's public transport system is crying out for investment and modernization.

Question 3

Is "cry out for" formal or informal?

Accepted Answer

"cry out for" is register-neutral — appropriate in both casual and formal contexts. Often used with an inanimate subject and an abstract object ('the situation cries out for reform'). This figurative sense is more common than the literal sense of physically crying out in need. Very effective for rhetorical or journalistic writing.

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