What does SOS mean?
You may hear SOS throughout the day, maybe in music, casual conversation, or in a work meeting. It’s a widely used expression with a strong meaning.
In short, “SOS” means “help.”
Originally, SOS was a distress signal in Morse code for seamen. Each letter was represented by a code. In this case, SOS equaled (…—…) in Morse code. It meant the seamen creating the SOS signal were in distress and/or in need of help.
Eventually, over time, it became the international distress signal. This was so there wouldn’t be any confusion if a ship of another language came across seamen who needed help but had a different word or code signal for help.
Overtime, SOS spilled over into our everyday language as a way of describing when we’re in a time of distress or in need of help.
Examples of SOS in a sentence:
- The ship put out an SOS signal to be rescued.
- I mentally cried out an SOS once I realized the math test was today.
- The base received an SOS signal from its military soldiers.
- The family created an SOS Kickstart to raise money for their son’s medical expenses.
- I made an SOS call to my mom because I had completely forgotten the recipe to her famous cookies.
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