1 A2 neutral
To telephone someone in return after they called you, or after you were unavailable.
"I missed your call this morning — I'll call you back after lunch."
separable
call back
A2 neutral separable transitive/intransitive
To phone someone again, especially in return for a call they made to you, or to ask someone to return to a place.
In plain English
Phone someone back after they called you, or ask someone to come back.
What does "call back" mean?
3 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 B1 neutral
To ask someone to return to a place, or to officially require something to be returned (e.g. a product recall).
"The manufacturer called back thousands of vehicles due to a safety defect."
“
"Ford is calling back over 200,000 vehicles after reports of brake failures."
— BBC News, 2018
separable
3 B1 neutral
To invite a job candidate to return for a further stage of the selection process.
"We were impressed with your interview and we'd like to call you back for a second round."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To call someone back — returning the communicative or physical direction.
Actually means
Phone someone back after they called you, or ask someone to come back.
Usage tip
Extremely common in everyday English. The phone sense is universal. The sense of recalling someone (e.g. a product recall, or asking a candidate back for an interview) is also frequent.
Words that pair with "call back"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
message missed call candidate product interview number
How to conjugate "call back"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
call back
I/you/we/they
3rd person
calls back
he/she/it
Past simple
called back
yesterday
Past participle
called back
have + pp
-ing form
calling back
continuous
Hear "call back" in the wild
Listen to native speakers using "call back" in real YouTube videos — click a clip to watch it on Looplines.
Other ways to say "call back"
Swap in when you want variety — tap a linked one to explore it.
Keep exploring
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