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Glite Dictionary
📞 To phone 🪖 To order to serve 💻 To access information 💭 To remember 🗣️ To bring for discussion 🪖 An order to serve
to call up

to call up

9 4.1
To mention something for discussion in a meeting or court
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɔl ʌp/
  • Formal
translation icon : sacar a discusión
  • We got called up to assistant director Kelly's office this morning to inform us we're getting a new supervisor.
  • call up for a vote
  • call up an amendment
  • want to call up

Examples

  • One student acts as stage manager, instructing guests on the evening's procedures and calling up the presenters.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The lawyer decided to call up the previous case to emphasize his argument in court.

  • I would like to call up the producer who produced the show for Pour Your Mind director.

  • If you get a positive impression based on an agent's marketing materials, proceed to call them up for an interview.

    Blog text (12)

  • It's her post that will be called up by Leibert's lawyers if this ever goes to court.

    Blog text (22)

  • Veteran first baseman Lyle Overbay and reliever Peter Moylan are among four players the Braves are planning to call up Saturday when rosters expand.

    Blog text (29)

  • During the meeting, the manager asked to call up the latest sales figures for discussion.

  • Before making a final decision, the committee will call up the points raised in last week's session.

Synonyms

to raise
vsto call up
∞ 3.2

To bring up a subject or cause people to notice it

is limited to presenting matters for discussion mainly in formal settings
to bring up
vsto call up
788 2.6

To mention a subject for discussion

is used for formal discussion rather than quick casual mentions
to put forward
vsto call up
65 3.2

To suggest an idea or plan for others to consider

is used to present matters for consideration rather than to suggest ideas
to bring forward
vsto call up
5 3.9

To present an idea or plan for people to discuss

is used to start discussion rather than to propose specific solutions

Antonyms

to suppress
176 4.8

To stop public protest by force or by people in power

How Prominent

to emphasize
  • US
397 3.7
to highlight
340 3.3
to raise
∞ 3.2
to call up
  • Formal
9 4.1
to bring up
788 2.6
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

call + up

The sense 'to make available / retrieve' can be inferred from 'call' in the sense of 'summon' or 'invoke' combined with the particle 'up' meaning 'bring into view' or 'into an active state', so a learner who knows those constituent senses could plausibly guess the meaning. However, the particle meaning is variable across phrasal verbs and the specific uses (recalling a memory, displaying a file, mobilizing resources) are somewhat lexicalized and context-dependent, so the relation is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Call up (bring an item forward) comes from the picture of a chairperson or speaker saying an item aloud to bring it 'up' for everyone to see; that's why it means 'to bring something forward for discussion'.