Word.ws English Dictionary

call the tune

call the tune verb: synonym of call the shots.

Verb

call the tune (third-person singular simple present calls the tune, present participle calling the tune, simple past and past participle called the tune)

  1. Synonym of call the shots.
    Synonyms:
    call the shots

Synonyms of call the tune

Forms of call the tune

third-person singular presentcalls the tune
present participlecalling the tune
past participlecalled the tune
pastcalled the tune

Origin of call the tune

From who pays the piper calls the tune.

Questions about call the tune

What does call the tune mean?
Call the tune means synonym of call the shots.
What part of speech is call the tune?
Call the tune is a verb.
What is the past tense of call the tune?
The past tense of call the tune is called the tune.

Words near call the tune in the dictionary

  1. call the fire brigade
  2. call the fire department
  3. call the police
  4. call the question
  5. call the shots
  6. call the tune
  7. call them as one sees them
  8. call time
  9. call times
  10. call to
  11. call to account

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: call the tune (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-call the tune.ogg.

Cite this entry: “call the tune.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/call_the_tune. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.