An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'call off', with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs!
Many of you will be familiar with the English phrasal verb 'call off', but do you know all of he different ways that it is used? In this article, I will explain the different meanings that it has and provide you with lots of examples of it being used in context to help you to learn and use them in English. So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! 😊
CALL OFF: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Called off / Called off |
Separable? | Yes |
MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one)
THE BASICS
To begin our exploration of the phrasal verb 'call off', let's first examine the individual words 'call' and 'off' and what they mean individually.
The verb 'to call' is a common English verb, which has several key meanings that are all ultimately to do with using your voice. The first of these is to give someone a name or to say what you consider someone or something to be.
My parents were going to call me Lionel but they changed their minds and called me David instead.
I live in the UK, so I do not call a temperature of 10° cold.
He called me intelligent and of course he is correct!
The other main meaning of the verb 'to call' is to use your voice in order to get someone's attention, usually to give them a message. This usage has developed over time to include using a telephone and more recently cellphones and computers to communicate with other people over long distances.
Somebody called me when I was walking down the street but when I turned around there was nobody there.
I will call you tonight to see how you are.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'off', which you will undoubtedly be very familiar with already. 'Off' functions in English as the natural opposite of 'on' and can be used to talk about things that are not functioning or cancelled, amongst many other things. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'off' can be used to add different ideas, which include completion, separation and departure.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'call off'....
MEANING 1: To cancel something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To cancel |
Nouns commonly used with | Deal, search, concert, wedding, match, game, talks, event, party |
Separable? | Yes |
The first meaning of 'call off' that we will examine in this post is the one that many of you will already be familiar with as it is the most common of its uses and means 'to cancel something'.
This usage is a relatively modern one as it was first recorded in English in the late 19th century and so is still a youngster in the vocabulary world. One of the many meanings of 'off' is to describe when a planned event, agreement or deal is no longer going to happen (as opposed to 'on' when an organised event is happening as planned). When you combine this idea with the idea of someone calling, or rather announcing, that an event is not going ahead, it brings us to the idea of cancellation.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'CALL OFF' AND 'CANCEL'?
When we use this application of 'call off', we are essentially saying that a person decides that something planned or scheduled will not happen and this is therefore a synonym of the verb 'to cancel'.
The party has been called off on Saturday as John has Covid.
We are going to have to call the meeting with the supplier off as none of us will be free on that day.
In many cases, 'call off' and 'cancel' are interchangeable and could be used in the same sentences without any change in meaning or nuance. Nouns that can typically be used with either of these include planned or organised public events, meetings, business deals, sports fixtures, matches, weddings and parties.
Roger and Helen's wedding has been called off and nobody knows why!
The planned concert was called off when several members of the band came down with food poisoning.
Due to the adverse weather conditions, we regret to inform you that today's football match has been called off.
Despite this huge overlap and interchangeability, I think that the scope of the verb 'to cancel' is a bit wider than 'call off' and there are some instances where we tend to use cancel but not 'call off' as it would sound a bit strange. This would typically be for appointments, such as with a hairdresser or a doctor and commercial orders of goods and services from a company, so avoid using 'call off' with these, especially with the orders as this could be mistaken for another meaning that we will look at later in the post!
Lastly, this application of 'call off' can also be used to mean 'to stop something', or 'to order something to stop'. This is normally for something that is in progress and typically would be heard with nouns such as investigation, enquiry, search and work*. When used in this way, I would use 'call off' rather than 'cancel' as it sounds more natural to my ears.
Call off the search, we have found the body!
The chief inspector of the police ordered the investigation to be called off when new evidence was presented.
The subcontractor called off the work as he had a dispute with his customer.
*Work in this sense refers to specific work that a professional does rather than a person's job. Note that we use the definite article (the) for work being done and no article when referring to a person's general job that they do every day.
MEANING 2: To take a day off work
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | North American English |
Potential synonyms | To call in sick |
Separable? | No |
The next meaning of 'call off' is one that most of us have had to do at one time or another when we have to take a day off work and that is to call your employer to advise them that you are not going to be there that day.
This may be because you are sick, because a member of your family or a pet is sick, someone close to you has died or perhaps you just want a day off; the reason for the absence is not important, the main idea is the communication to your work to advise them that you won't be there that day.
I may be wrong here but this usage does seem to me to be much more American than British as I personally would use the alternative 'to call in sick' in this instance. However, with that being said, I am very familiar with the usage and the meaning is completely clear to me as a native British English speaker.
Call off work today and come with us to the beach!
If you need to call off work for any reason, please contact your line manager as early as possible on the day in question.
David has a meeting with HR next week as he has called off work three times already this month and hasn't really given any valid reasons.
MEANING 3: To stop an attack
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To desist, to summon away |
Nouns commonly used with | Attack, dog |
Separable? | Yes |
This third usage of 'call off' is an advanced usage that continues the ideas of stopping or cancelling something that we looked at earlier in the post and it specifically means 'to stop an attack'.
To clarify, this does not mean to stop an attack by putting up a good defence and repelling your attacker in classic Bruce Lee style, but rather when someone senior on the attacker's side demands that an attack is stopped. This would typically be a person of high rank in the armed forces, a senior statesman or head of state.
Interestingly, this usage is actually far older than the previous ones that we have looked at and dates back to at least the early 17th century when the nature of warfare was, in many ways, very different to how it is today.
Call off the troops, this conflict it pointless!
The King saw that his army was losing and decided to call of the attack.
Sadly, in the modern world we still have too much pointless war, however from the perspective of everyday language, it is perhaps more likely that you will come across this usage in reference to aggressive people or dogs. If a dog is aggressive and attacks another dog, a human or other animal, the owner will likely be asked or demanded to call off the dog and make it stop the attack. The same can be said with humans, if you are being threatened by another person or they are attacking you, we can use call off to ask someone who exerts some influence over them to ask them to stop the attack.
Simon pleaded with the gangster boss for him to call his men off and to stop threatening him for the money.
The dog was biting my leg and when I asked its to call his dog off, he ignored me!
MEANING 4: To request shipment of a bulk order
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Business English |
Potential synonyms | To ship, to part ship |
Separable? | Yes |
The fourth and final meaning of 'call off' that I will explain to you in this post is a rare one that is used specifically in the commercial world and means to request the shipment of a bulk order. This usage is one that you may come across if you ever work for a company that sells to or purchases from a company in an English-speaking country.
To clarify this, a bulk order is an order of a large quantity of products in one single transaction. Often, companies place these orders at a cheaper price and do not take delivery of all of the goods at one time. Instead, they request or 'call off' specific quantities that they require at different times until the order has been fulfilled.
For example, the company Phrasal Verbs Ltd needs some new stock of English dictionaries and places a bulk order for 1000 x copies with their supplier at a discounted rate. The small warehouse at Phrasal Verbs Ltd only has enough space for 250 dictionaries, so it is not possible for them to take delivery of all 1000 x units at that time. Instead, they call the order off at a later date when they need more dictionaries and keep calling it off until they have received all 1000 copies.
We will place the order with you and call the other units off and when we need them.
The customer has asked to call off the rest of their order but they need to pay their overdue invoice first.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'call off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
The troops were called off after the cease-fire talks.
"My parents were going to call me Lionel but they changed their minds and called me David instead.” In this sentence, word "mindS", is refering to two individuals, plural, right. Wouldn't be better to write just : "mind" without "s"?