call out
Britishverb
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to utter aloud, esp loudly
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(tr) to summon
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(tr) to order (workers) to strike
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(tr) to summon (an employee) to work at a time outside his normal working hours, usually in an emergency
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(tr) to challenge to a duel
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Summon into action or service, as in The governor called out the militia . [Mid-1400s]
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Challenge to a fight, as in To avenge the insult, Arthur called him out . This term originated with dueling and is dying out. [Early 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“For Alice to call out Rebecca in the second episode shows us how powerful this new season is going to be,” Waddingham says, speaking in a voice memo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Sometimes, before the daily tallies that occurred to ensure all inmates were accounted for, they would jokingly call out, “It’s count time, guys—go ahead and hide your cellphones.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Eventually, once the real reason customers aren’t returning has been revealed, Lofaso will “storm in to shake things up, call out the chaos and whip these teams into shape.”
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
“It gets to the point where I sometimes call out the RMD being a bigger bomb when it hits,” he says.
From Barron's ● Jun. 13, 2026
“What kind of a woman—what kind of a mother—doesn’t answer even when her own children call out to her?” the judge taunted over the loud, booming mike.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
