decried; decrying
1
: to depreciate (something, such as a coin) officially or publicly
the king may at any time decry … any coin of the kingdom—
William Blackstone
2
: to express strong disapproval of
decry the emphasis on sex
… has decried the medical marijuana ballot initiative as being rife with loopholes.—Dan Sweeney
Did you know?
Decry has several synonyms in English, among them disparage and belittle. Decry connotes an open condemnation that makes it the best choice for cases in which criticism is not at all veiled. The forthrightness expressed by the word is an echo from its ancestry: decry was borrowed in the 17th century from the French décrier, meaning "to discredit, depreciate," and the crier in that word is also the source of our word cry, the oldest meaning of which is “to utter loudly; shout.”
Examples of decry in a Sentence
In her article, she decries the pollution of the environment by manufacturers.
Violence on television is generally decried as harmful to children.
Recent Examples on the Web
The loss of grant funding triggered an immediate reaction from Terra Lawson-Remer, acting chair of the county board of supervisors, who released a statement Thursday afternoon decrying the cuts.
—Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2025
During the first Trump administration, members of the National Academy of Sciences, including Santer, released two open letters that decried the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and wider government attacks on science.
—Dan Vergano, Scientific American, 2 Apr. 2025
Fain made a similar argument himself during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, decrying Trump’s anti-union actions while saying his tariffs are spot on.
—Haisten Willis, The Washington Examiner, 31 Mar. 2025
In some parts of the country, people opposed to Musk have gone beyond protests and set the automaker’s vehicles on fire and committed other acts of vandalism that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism.
—Cindy Krischer Goodman, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for decry
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Decry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decry. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share