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to call up

to call up

11 3.2
To make a memory or image appear in your mind
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɔl ʌp/
translation icon : evocar
  • We must call up all our strength... all our resolution, all our courage... if we are to bring our people to safety.
  • call up memories
  • call up images

You try to call up again that moment where you felt this thankfulness.

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Examples

  • The bad moments were precise, vivid; easy to call up in all their awful detail.

    Academic text (1991)

  • It calls up a picture of the prosecution astride a white horse ablaze in the uniform of a military colonel and with all the forces of right and righteousness marshaled behind him.

    Inherit the Wind (1960)

  • For some reason, he found it impossible to call up a picture of her.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • You try to call up again that moment where you felt this thankfulness.

    Mulligan Brothers Interviews

  • I can close my eyes and call up those raindrops striking each by each.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Just seeing the familiar scrawl across the thin envelope calls up the old ache.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • He struggled to call up memories of his childhood while looking through old photos.

  • During the meeting, she tried to call up any relevant data that would support her argument.

  • As I read the letter, I found it hard to call up the emotions I had felt at that time.

Synonyms

to remember
vsto call up
∞ 1.0

To think about something from the past

also often means causing someone else to think of the same past thing
to remind
vsto call up
∞ 1.0

To make someone remember something they need to do or something from the past

is broader, applying to general memories and facts rather than only duties
to recall
vsto call up
∞ 2.4

Remember something from the past

is the more casual everyday way to talk about thinking of past things
to bring back
vsto call up
143 3.0

Make someone remember something from the past

also covers thinking by oneself, not only being prompted by others
to evoke
vsto call up
71 4.8

To bring a memory, image, or feeling to mind

is more about bringing images or feelings rather than factual details
to refresh
vsto call up
50 2.8

Help someone or yourself remember something forgotten

can mean the memory returns on its own without extra external help
to retrieve
vsto call up
44 4.1

To bring a memory or fact back into your mind

is the everyday phrase used in normal speech rather than technical writing
to conjure up
vsto call up
40 6.2

To bring a memory to mind or make something seem to appear by magic

is usually literal memory of real facts, not a fanciful imaginative image
to bring back memories
vsto call up
21 3.5

To make someone remember the past, for example a song or photo

is more neutral, focusing on memory content rather than the emotional reaction
to recollect
vsto call up
20 3.7

To remember something from the past

can be less effortful and happen without deliberate searching in many cases

Antonyms

to forget
∞ 1.0

Not remember something you should remember

How Vivid

to conjure up
40 6.2
to evoke
71 4.8
to call up
11 3.2
to remind
∞ 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 (remember) may come from the idea of 'calling' a picture or memory and bringing it 'up' into your mind, like pulling a photo out of a box; so it means 'to make a memory appear' or 'to remember'.