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.
On the second day of a four-day state visit, Charles is expected to call in his speech for "reconciliation and renewal," with the so-called special relationship between Washington and London under strain.
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a robbery call in the 8500 block of Lookout Mountain Avenue around 8 p.m.,
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026
Shortly before the judge approved the revised bankruptcy plan, Jannotta appeared via video call in November to address the court, delivering a statement that her daughter, Susan Ousterman, helped craft.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he said during Meta’s earnings call in January.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
I have been given opportunities to answer this call in my own city in smaller, daily ways.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
