cry foul
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Protest strongly about a wrong.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Thus closed another chapter in the history of the ‘ Entente Discordiale’, with both camps crying foul and the French departing in high dudgeon.
American game giants, Nintendo cried foul and took them to court in an attempt to ban Game Genie sales in America.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “cry foul” mean?
Protest strongly about a wrong.
Is “cry foul” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.