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Glite Dictionary
🧑‍🔧 To summon help 📞 To phone a place 🔙 To demand return 🏠 To visit briefly
to call in

to call in

1 2.8
Pay a short, often unplanned visit to someone
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɔl ɪn/
  • UK
translation icon : pasar por
  • I decided to call in on my neighbor to see how she was doing after her surgery.

Examples

  • Sue spotted a green grocer that we would call in on the way back to the car, and we decided to look for a butcher's.

    Blog text (27)

  • If I'm appointed administrator of the estate, I shall probably just call in Corey.

    Laura (1944)

  • Oh, not at all, I promised the Fire Brigade I'd call in on you.

    Just A Friend (2023)

  • And we ask the public not to call in, so that the Zodiac himself can reach us.

    Zodiac (2007)

  • I'll call in the morning to take you to the airfield!

    The Blue Max (1966)

  • Toschi needs to call in on a landline.

    Zodiac (2007)

  • He says he's gonna call in on Jim Dunbar's morning show in three hours.

    Zodiac (2007)

  • On their way home, they planned to call in at the new cafe that just opened.

  • He often calls in on his grandparents to chat and have tea with them.

Synonyms

to visit
vsto call in
∞ 1.0

To go to see a person or place, usually for a short time

is specifically a short often unplanned social stop rather than many formal uses
to come by
vsto call in
  • Informal
506 3.9

Visit someone at home without calling first

is neutral about formality rather than specifically informal
to drop by
vsto call in
  • Informal
206 2.5

To visit someone or a place for a short time without planning

is for short stops but not always informal or unplanned
to drop in
vsto call in
  • Informal
72 3.6

Visit someone without arranging it first

is often spontaneous but can also be planned
to pay a visit
vsto call in
50 2.3

To go to someone's home or another place for a short time

is limited to short stops to people rather than to places
to call on
vsto call in
41 3.1

To visit someone briefly for a purpose

is often unplanned and serves as a general short social stop
to pop in
vsto call in
  • Informal
25 3.4

To make a short informal visit to a place

focuses on seeing people rather than quickly entering places
to pop into
vsto call in
  • Informal
9 4.1

Visit a place for a short time, often without planning

is about short social stops to people rather than sudden place entries
to drop in for coffee
vsto call in
  • Informal
2.3

To visit someone informally to have coffee and chat

is a general short social stop often without a specific purpose

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

How Long

to stay over
  • Informal
70 3.0
to visit
∞ 1.0
to call in
  • UK
1 2.8
to drop by
  • Informal
206 2.5
to pop in
  • Informal
25 3.4

Surface Forms

call in infinitive
called in past
called in past participle
calling in present participle
calls in third person singular

Morphology

call + in

The sense 'to pay a short visit' is directly built from 'call' (a visit/make a visit) + 'in' (toward/inside), following a common English verb+particle compositional pattern. This relation is cross-linguistically common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings will very likely infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Call in comes from the idea of making a quick call in at someone's home or workplace for a short chat or visit. That's why it means 'to pay a short visit'.