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.
Davies, from Denbigh in Wales, isn't the first performer to call out audience members for bad theatre etiquette.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 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
I wonder if we’ll finally see some movement to rein in judge shopping if judges actively call out this behavior in their opinions.
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
She said, “Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Gridnev would call out, ‘Yermakova, sing out!’ and I would start the song, and then the rest of the regiment would join me.”
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
