Word.ws English Dictionary

called

UK/kɔːld/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Multicultural London English/qʰud/

called is the simple past and past participle of call.

Meaning of call

Verb

call (third-person singular simple present calls, present participle calling, simple past and past participle called or (archaic) call'd)

  1. (intransitive) To request, summon, or beckon.
    • That person is hurt; call for help!
  2. (intransitive) To cry or shout.
    • "Supper's ready," called Dad from the kitchen.
  3. (transitive) To utter in a loud or distinct voice.
    • to call the roll of a military company
  4. (ambitransitive) To contact by telephone.
    • Why don’t you call me in the morning?
    Synonyms:
    drop a line, ring, get on the horn, give someone a ring, give someone a bell, telephone, call up, dial up, give someone a buzz, give someone a call
  5. (transitive) To rouse from sleep; to awaken.
    • Take not away the Taper, leaue it burning: / And if thou canſt awake by foure o’th’clock, / I prythee call me: Sleepe hath ceiz’d me wholly.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  6. (transitive, jazz) To request that one's band play (a particular tune).
    • They called I Got Rhythm, and turned to me again for a solo, and I said what?1997, Saxophone Journal

See all 57 meanings of call

Adjective

called (not comparable)

  1. Having been called.
    • a called strike
    Antonyms:
    uncalled

Synonyms of called

Antonyms

Words formed from called

Phrases with called

65 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with called

Questions about called

What does called mean?
Called means having been called.
What is called the simple past and past participle of?
Called is the simple past and past participle of call.
What part of speech is called?
Called is an adjective.
How do you pronounce called?
Called is pronounced /kɔːld/ (UK).

Words near called in the dictionary

  1. callboxes
  2. callboy
  3. callboys
  4. Callcott
  5. Callcotts
  6. called
  7. called 'em as one saw 'em
  8. called a cab
  9. called a go
  10. called a halt
  11. called a lid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: called (page history and authors); call (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-us-called.ogg.

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