call in
Americanverb phrase
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to call for payment; collect.
The family struggled because her father was unwilling to call in the debts owed to him.
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to call upon for consultation; ask for help.
Management called in an independent engineering firm to determine the cause behind the roof collapse.
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to inform, report, or request by telephone.
The electric company will reward customers with a credit if they call in their own meter readings.
Your doctor can call in the prescription to your local pharmacy.
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to participate in a meeting or a radio or television program by telephone.
The listeners who call in to my talk show about science ask the most intriguing questions.
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to visit.
We were instructed to call in to the office later to pay and complete the formal paperwork.
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to withdraw from circulation.
The country’s leader issued a proclamation calling in all gold coins and gold certificates.
noun
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Radio and Television. a program in which listeners or viewers phone in comments or questions to the host or a person being interviewed.
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Radio and Television. a live telephone conversation intended for broadcasting between a program's host and a person being interviewed.
adjective
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Radio and Television. relating to or featuring such phone calls or conversations.
My call-in program about gardening airs once a week on the local public radio station.
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being or relating to a meeting, service, etc., that is accessed by telephone.
The agenda will be sent out the morning of the meeting, along with all the call-in numbers needed.
The grant funds a call-in hotline for low-income residents in the metro area.
verb
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to pay a visit, esp a brief or informal one
call in if you are in the neighbourhood
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(tr) to demand payment of
to call in a loan
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(tr) to take (something) out of circulation, because it is defective or no longer useful
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(tr) to summon to one's assistance
they had to call in a specialist
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Summon for help or consultation, as in We've decided to call in a specialist to look at Father . [Second half of 1600s]
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Withdraw from circulation, as in We're calling in all the old models . [Late 1500s]
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Communicate by telephone, as in In this office salesmen must call in once a day . [Mid-1900s]
Etymology
Origin of call in
First recorded in 1480–90
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.
"I will call in Israel's Ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman and have directed Australia's Ambassador to Israel to convey our views directly to Israel as the Australian Government considers next steps."
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
In 2024, the British government released a video of a phone call in which the then foreign minister David Cameron was duped by someone posing as former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
“It was a mess because he did have about 150 people call in the first couple of days,” he said.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
The USS George Washington, based in Japan, has been operating in the South China Sea in recent weeks and recently made a port call in Vietnam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
She picks up the telephone to call in.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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.
