Skip to main content
roll call

roll call

27 3.2
People call out a list of names to check who is present in a meeting, classroom or group
  • noun
  • /roʊl kɔl/
translation icon : pase de lista
  • The teacher took attendance during the roll call to ensure all students were in class.
  • roll call vote
  • roll call voting
  • roll call analysis

You just showed up for roll call and then you left.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Sunday's intermediate English class began with roll call as my Chinese students pulled out their homework.

    Blog text (20)
  • Let's do a roll call.

  • You just showed up for roll call and then you left.

  • Been here since roll call.

  • The roll call just started.

  • The teacher continued with her roll call and then immediately began calling on students.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • We do a roll call to make sure we haven't lost any of you out there.

  • Lefarn started a roll call to learn who was present.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • So, without further ado, let's begin the roll call.

  • Let's take roll call first and make sure the gang's all here.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

roll
vsroll call
  • Formal
122 3.2

An official list of names kept for record

refers to the act of calling names rather than the list itself
attendance check
vsroll call
1 2.5

A quick check where someone calls names to see who is present

is used more broadly for any meeting or group, not only student lists
to call roll
vsroll call
  • US
1 3.4

To read a list of names aloud to check who is present

names the action as a noun rather than the spoken verb form
muster call
vsroll call
  • Jargon
1 8.4

A meeting when soldiers line up and have their names called to check who is present

is used in civilian meetings and lacks the specific military readiness focus

Antonyms

216 2.1

A lack of someone or something that should be there

How Official

inspection
  • Formal
356 2.5
spot check
3 3.6
muster call
  • Jargon
1 8.4
roll call
27 3.2

Surface Forms

roll call singular
roll calls plural

Morphology

roll + call

The noun 'roll call' is directly compositional: 'roll' = a roster or list and 'call' = to call out or summon, so the phrase denotes calling the list of names to check presence. This is a common, concrete classroom/meeting procedure and many languages have a comparable construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase roll call comes from the old practice of reading a roll, a list of names on a long piece of paper. People would then call each name out loud to see who was 'present', so today it means checking who is 'present'.