sobsob /sɒb $ sɑːb/ ●●○ verb (past tense and past participle sobbed, present participle sobbing) 
He began sobbing uncontrollably.► see thesaurus at cry2[transitive] (also sob out) to say something while you are sobbing: ‘It’s too late,’ she sobbed.—sob noun [countable]: loud sobs
WORD ORIGINsob
Origin:
1100-1200 Perhaps from Dutch or Low GermanVERB TABLE
sob
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | sob |
| he, she, it | sobs | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | sobbed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have sobbed |
| he, she, it | has sobbed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had sobbed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will sob |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have sobbed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am sobbing |
| he, she, it | is sobbing | |
| you, we, they | are sobbing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was sobbing |
| you, we, they | were sobbing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been sobbing |
| he, she, it | has been sobbing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been sobbing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be sobbing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been sobbing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- "Please don't leave me," he sobbed.
- My mother was sobbing uncontrollably.
- The child covered her face with her hands and started to sob uncontrollably.
- The sound of her sobbing kept them awake all night.
- As she stumbled along the path, she began to sob.
- But Denver was shaking now and sobbing so she could not speak.
- Her parents were there, sobbing painfully, her younger brother, and older sister.
- Hysterically light with fear, I ran sobbing to my room.
- Leyland was sitting beside me, and he was sobbing, too.
- Manny, leaning against the side of the building, was holding Maryellen, who was sobbing loudly.
- She started to sob, slowly at first, then harsher.
- The sobbing woman is out of order, embarrassing, unreasonable.
THESAURUS
to produce tears from your eyes: · Don’t cry – everything will be all right!· Men aren’t supposed to cry.
especially spoken to cry a lot and for a long time: · I cried my eyes out when I watched ‘Titanic’.
to be crying: · By the end of his story, we were all in tears.
to be almost crying: · You could see that she was close to tears.
literary to cry, especially for a long time: · His mother put her head on the table and wept.
to cry, taking sudden loud breaths: · I could hear someone sobbing in the next room.
to cry very loudly in a high voice: · The baby started wailing for its mother.
to cry quietly and weakly: · She began rocking to and fro, whimpering softly.
to make a big effort not to cry: · She told her story, struggling to hold back the tears.
if your eyes water, they have tears in them, for example because of smoke, wind, or when you are cutting onions: · The onions were making my eyes water.
Longman Language Activatorto cry if you cry , tears come from your eyes, for example because you are sad or upset, or because you have hurt yourself: · I could hear the baby crying in the next room.· Kim's eyes were red and she looked as though she'd been crying.· Don't cry, I didn't mean to upset you.cry about: · Jenny won't tell me what she's crying about.make somebody cry: · The film was so sad, it made me cry.cry and cry (=cry for a long time): · I sat alone in my room and cried and cried.cry your eyes out (=cry a lot because you are very upset): · The poor kid's so miserable, he's upstairs crying his eyes out.cry with happiness/joy/relief etc: · She cried with joy when she heard that the children were safe.cry yourself to sleep (=cry until you fall asleep): · At night I'd cry myself to sleep, thinking about you.
especially written to cry quietly and for a long time because you are very sad or you feel a strong emotion: · She sat beside her dying father and wept.weep openly (=without trying to stop or hide it): · Thousands of French citizens, many weeping openly, bade a silent farewell to Mitterand.weep with emotion/grief/joy etc: · I remember weeping with pride when my first son was born.weep bitterly (=cry strongly): · His mother wept bitterly and his father sat grim-faced.
if you sob , you cry noisily and your body shakes, because you are very sad or because someone has upset you: · The sound of her sobbing kept them awake all night.· "Please don't leave me," he sobbed.· The child covered her face with her hands and started to sob uncontrollably.
to cry loudly - use this especially about young children or people you do not have any sympathy for: · "Stop, bawling," Dad said crossly, "and come over here."· The baby was sitting in his high chair, red in the face and bawling.
to cry in a weak, complaining way and at the same time breathe in air noisily through your nose: · "What are you snivelling about, Jake?'· She kept sniffling into her handkerchief and saying how unfair everything was.
to make a quiet, continuous, unhappy sound like an animal in pain, or to say something with this sound in your voice: · 'I'm sorry,' she whimpered, but Richard wasn't listening.whimper with: · Pat whimpered with the pain of the bullet wound in his shoulder.
crying because someone has upset you, or because something is very sad: · Everyone started to laugh and Frank ran out of the room in tears.· Most of us were in tears by the time he'd finished his story.
if your eyes water , you have tears in your eyes, usually because of something such as wind or smoke going into them: · Jo's eyes were watering from the smoke that filled the room.make your eyes water: · An icy wind blew into my face, making my eyes water.
drops of water that come from your eyes when you are crying - this is often used to represent the idea of crying: · Grandpa wiped the tears from his eyes.have tears in your eyes/with tears in your eyes (=be nearly crying): · Yusuf had tears in his eyes, and I knew he was thinking of home.· She turned to me with tears in her eyes and begged me to help her.tears roll/run down somebody's cheeks (=someone cries a lot): · He stood silently, tears rolling down his cheeks, while the music played.· Mum showed us the letter with tears running down her cheeks.be close to tears (=almost crying): · Howell was close to tears as he told the court what had happened.·
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY He began sobbing uncontrollably.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
1[intransitive] to cry noisily while breathing in short sudden bursts: He began sobbing uncontrollably.· He woke up finally from a nightmare of dismembered bodies and prison guards to find himself bathed in sweat and sobbing uncontrollably.· I sensed his wavering and I began sobbing uncontrollably.· Julie dropped the hammer and found she was sobbing uncontrollably.· His brother, Antonio, shook and sobbed uncontrollably as he spoke.
VERB· As she stumbled along the path, she began to sob.· On this morning, he begins sobbing.· Norman sank to his knees and began to sob piteously.· I sensed his wavering and I began sobbing uncontrollably.· Eleanor stifled a groan, put her hands over her face and began quietly sobbing.· Hoc and his brother shrank back in momentary horror front the man dying at their feet; then Hoc began sobbing loudly.· She began to sob and moan.· Bobby grabbed hold of his hand and held it tightly: Minton turned his face to the wall and began to sob.
· As he approached Quigley, Quigley started to sob.· And then I started to sob.· She started to sob, slowly at first, then harsher.· She apologized, but fifteen seconds later she started sobbing again.· And one time we sat there and he started to sob.· She started to sob out loud.· Jay had somehow manoeuvred me into the room by now and at the sight of me Martha started sobbing even more.
He began sobbing uncontrollably.► see thesaurus at cry2[transitive] (also sob out) to say something while you are sobbing: ‘It’s too late,’ she sobbed.—sob noun [countable]: loud sobs