call for

English

Verb

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

1. To shout out in order to summon (a person).

   I leant out of the back door and called for Lucy.

2. To ask for in a loud voice.

   We finished the main course in short order and called for more wine.

3. (figuratively) To request, demand.

   The government has called for an end to hostilities in the region.

   • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013:

     In Juazeiro do Norte, demonstrators cornered the mayor inside a bank for hours and called for his impeachment, while thousands of others protested teachers’ salaries.

   • 2017 May 31, Don Baker, Franklin Rausch, Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Choson Korea‎^[1], page 93:

     In fact, he had called for the execution of Yun Chich'ung and Kwon Sangyon in 1791.

4. To necessitate, demand, exact; to make appropriate

   This situation calls for a high degree of courage.

   • 2000, Yarong Jiang, David Ashley, Mao's Children in the New China: Voices From the Red Guard Generation‎^[2], page 165:

     This called for an immediate response. A factory-wide meeting was called, and the head of the Workers' Rebellion Organization announced that a "counter-revolutionary clique" was on the loose.

   • 2017 April 25, Sarah Peis, Some Call It Love‎^[3]:

     I wasn't usually a big drinker but extenuating circumstances this week called for it.

5. To stop at a place and ask for (someone).

   I'll call for you just after midday.

6. (US, informal) To anticipate, predict.

   The forecast calls for rain.

Derived terms

• uncalled-for

Translations

to summon

• Danish: kalde på
• Finnish: kutsua (fi)
• French: appeler (fr)
• Hungarian: hív (hu)
• Latin: acciō
• Old English: ġelangian
• Portuguese: chamar (pt)
• Spanish: llamar (es)
• Zulu: -biza

to ask for (something) in loud voice

• Finnish: vaatia (fi)
• French: demander (fr), commander (fr)
• Zulu: -biza

to request, demand

• Arabic: دَعَا إِلَى (daʕā ʔilā)
• Finnish: vaatia (fi)
• French: demander (fr)
• Hungarian: követel (hu), felhív (hu)
• Zulu: -biza

to necessitate, demand

• Finnish: vaatia (fi)
• French: exiger (fr), nécessiter (fr)
• Hungarian: igényel (hu), kíván (hu), megkíván (hu), követel (hu)
• Portuguese: exigir (pt)

to come to a place to ask for (someone)

• Finnish: tulla käymään
• French: passer (fr)