Cry
Cry noun - A loud vocal expression of strong emotion.
Usage example: a cry of despair arose when the smoke of the bomb blast cleared
Wail is a synonym for cry in weep topic. In some cases you can use "Wail" instead the word "Cry" as a verb or a noun, when it comes to topics like sound, happy, scream, animal sound. popular alternative
Wail
Wail noun - A crying out in grief.
Usage example: a prolonged wail arose from every corner of the city as the victims of the earthquake were unearthed from the rubble
Cry is a synonym for wail in scream topic. You can use "Cry" instead the word "Wail" as a verb or a noun, if it concerns topics such as sound, howl, happy, animal sound. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| female | female cry | female wail |
| familiar | familiar cry | familiar wail |
| long | long cry | long wail |
| distinctive | distinctive cry | distinctive wail |
| Other adjectives: normal, true, dead, single, loud, annoying, piercing, slow, distorted, mournful, opening, famous, new, final, random, chilling, eerie, agonized, terrifying. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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So when they die, they have to openly mourn for them (read: wail and cry as if they really mean it) or else they will be imprisoned or worse.
Source: Inelegant Blubbering -
She does refer to her sonic wail as her "Canary Cry," but it is never implied to actually sound like a real canary and she had the name before her powers arose.
Source: Comic Book / Birds of Prey -
Death Wail: Anguirus has an additional, unique cry head during his death, after Godzilla bites his neck, but it's only heard in foreign versions and is missing from the Japanese version entirely, much like Godzilla's in The Return of Godzilla Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?
Source: Film / Godzilla Raids Again
Cite this Source
Wail and Cry. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/cry/wail
Cry & Wail. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/cry/wail>.
Wail or Cry. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/cry/wail.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "cry" and "wail" have occurred on timeline