CALL FOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does call for mean? 

• CALL FOR (verb)
  The verb CALL FOR has 4 senses:

1. express the need or desire for

2. require as useful, just, or proper

3. request the participation or presence of

4. gather or collect

  Familiarity information: CALL FOR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CALL FOR (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express the need or desire for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request

Context example:

when you call, always ask for Mary

Hypernyms (to "call for" is one way to...):

communicate; pass; pass along; pass on; put across (transmit information)

Verb group:

call for; invite (request the participation or presence of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "call for"):

ask (make a request or demand for something to somebody)

book; hold; reserve (arrange for and reserve (something for someone else) in advance)

ask; ask out; invite out; take out (make a date)

call (call a meeting; invite or command to meet)

ask over; ask round; invite (invite someone to one's house)

arrogate; claim; lay claim (demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to)

beg (ask to obtain free)

desire (express a desire for)

ask in; invite (ask to enter)

call for; invite (request the participation or presence of)

claim (ask for legally or make a legal claim to, as of debts, for example)

demand (ask to be informed of)

challenge (ask for identification)

order (make a request for something)

encore (request an encore, from a performer)

petition (write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing)

demand (request urgently and forcefully)

appeal; invoke (request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection)

supplicate (ask for humbly or earnestly, as in prayer)

apply (ask (for something))

beg; solicit; tap (make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently)

reserve (obtain or arrange (for oneself) in advance)

beg off; excuse (ask for permission to be released from an engagement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Require as useful, just, or proper

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

ask; call for; demand; involve; necessitate; need; postulate; require; take

Context example:

This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent

Verb group:

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "call for"):

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

govern (require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood)

draw (require a specified depth for floating)

cost (require to lose, suffer, or sacrifice)

cry for; cry out for (need badly or desperately)

compel (necessitate or exact)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Request the participation or presence of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

call for; invite

Context example:

The organizers invite submissions of papers for the conference

Hypernyms (to "call for" is one way to...):

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request (express the need or desire for)

Verb group:

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request (express the need or desire for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Gather or collect

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

call for; collect; gather up; pick up

Context example:

They pick up our trash twice a week

Hypernyms (to "call for" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

But I must try to get a few hours' sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was soon able to call for bread and drink, or whatever else I wanted.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Mr. Barkis the carrier was to call for me in the morning at nine o'clock.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At home I should undoubtedly have given vent to my anguish; but this new and elemental environment seemed to call for a savage repression.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Yet I confess that there was no particular call for cheerfulness on their part.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I was going to call for the police, but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall call for it in person on Monday morning.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Crawford, I think you call for him at half-past nine?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Residents, communes etc call for them.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Frank Churchill's confession of having behaved shamefully was the first thing to call for more than a word in passing.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)